US and Israel's accusation against Arafat untenable

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, October 12, 2003

US and Israel's accusation against Arafat untenable

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Currently, the destiny of Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) draws the world attention. The reason is that Israeli government has decided in principle to expel Arafat, and Israeli Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert even threatened to kill Arafat whereas the United States vetoed the proposal at the UN Security Council that required Israel not to take any action to hurt or expel Arafat. In the eyes of the United States and Israel, Arafat "supports terrorism" and is a "stumbling block to peace".

The accusations by the United States and Israel are ungrounded.

After the September 11 incident, terrorism has roused global resentment and in the meantime some countries took the advantage to jump onto the bandwagon of "anti-terrorism". By flaunting the flag of "anti-terrorism", Israel turned the public opinion of the long-lasting conflict of occupation and anti-occupation between Palestine and Israel into the one of anti-terrorism and terrorism with Palestine as "terrorist" and Israel as "anti-terrorist". Israel and the United Sates labeled the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) under the leadership of Arafat as a "terror-supporting entity".

However, actually, although the suicidal attacks waged by some few Palestinian radicals toward Israeli civilians are to some degree a terrorist activity, on the whole, the conflict between Palestine and Israel remains an essential conflict of occupation and anti-occupation. As there sees no end of the conflict, Israel has to bear unshakable responsibility. Israel ignored the UN Security Council's Resolutions 242 and 238 demanding that Israeli army withdraw from Arabian territory, rejected the "land-for-peace" principle established at the Madrid Peace Conference. Since the present Israeli Prime Minister Sharon entered into the office, Israel took a tough position: wanting to have peace but not to hand over the land. Once the Palestinians resisted, Israeli army just made double retaliation. Therefore, we should not put the blame of the continuing conflict between Palestine and Israel all on Arafat alone.

Now the United Sates and Israel accuse Arafat as an "stumbling block to peace". This accusation can't hold water whether to be weighed from history or the present situation.

Historically speaking, it was just Arafat with the courage of a brilliant statesman that parried aside the obstacles and announced on behalf of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to give up the idea to destroy Israel through violence. It was just Arafat that announced to accept Israel as a country and waved to Israel with the olive branch of peace. Finally, after serious negotiations, Palestine and Israel signed the Oslo accords, which ushered in a new era in the Israeli-Palestinian relations. Although efforts for peace in the Middle East have many a time met with setbacks, Arafat still made his stately declaration that peaceful negotiation remained the strategic choice of Palestine. Because of all these efforts he's made, Arafat was awarded the "Nobel Prize for Peace".

Let's now have a look at the issue in the light of the present situation. Arafat still advocates settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through negotiations. Nevertheless, the United States have a mind to expel Arafat out from the peace process. In particular, before publicizing the Middle East "Road Map", the United States insisted that Arafat set up a post of Prime Minister in an attempt that the Prime Minister could one day replace Arafat. The United States and Israel's intention to expel Arafat was based on their anticipation that new Palestinian leaders could make more concessions to Israel on such weighty issues as the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian territories, the removal of Jewish settlements and the settlement of Palestinian refugees. But what Israel is unaware of is that no Palestinian leader would do by going against the will of the majority of Palestinians, which is to recover the territory and safeguard the national interest.

No matter how complicated the Palestinian-Israeli situation is, we should not pour the dirty water all on Arafat.

This is an article on page 3, People's Daily Overseas Edition, October 9, 2003, written by Bao Erwen and translated by Gao Lanrong

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