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 | Thursday, April 27, 2000, updated at 16:16(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Barak Would Fall If He Fails to Make Peace: ArafatPalestinian leader Yasser Arafat stepped up pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday as their peace talks remained static, saying he would fall if he lets people down in peace-making with Arabs.Barak would fall as his right-wing predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu if he fails to make peace with Arabs, Arafat said, quoted by Egypt's Middle East News Agency. Israeli people elected Barak last May on a ticket of making peace, but he would "meet with the same fate" as Netanyahu, if he continued to reject peace, Arafat told Egyptian reporters after meeting with President Hosni Mubarak. Barak defeated Netanyahu in the general election in May last year, promising to realize peace with Israel's Arab neighbors. Arafat said: "I have a hunch that Barak lacks the strong motive to implement what has been agreed with (the Palestinians), given the fact that he is the leader of the hardliners and settlers." Arafat paid a lightening visit to Egypt in the day. He slammed the Israeli government's settlement policy, charging that more than 7,000 housing units have been built for Jewish settlers during the nine months since Barak came to power, far exceeding those constructed during Netanyahu's three-year mandate. The Palestinian leader said the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli negotiations in Washington have made no progress. Palestinian and Israeli negotiators are working to meet a May deadline to forge a formula for a final peace treaty to be completed by September. Agreement is needed on thorny issues including borders, the fate of Jewish settlements, the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.
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