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No Peace Deal With Israel in Clinton's Presidency: Palestinian Official
A Palestinian official in Cairo on January 5 ruled out the possibility of reaching a peace agreement with Israel on the basis of a US compromise proposal before President Bill Clinton leaves office on January 20, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.
Farouk Al Kadoumy, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) political department, said that during the remaining short period of time of Clinton's presidency, negotiations would "unlikely" achieve tangible progress.
He blamed Israel for the failure, saying "For seven years, Israel has been procrastinating and trying to wriggle out of implementing signed agreements."
Kadoumy said that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak often did not honor pledges and resorted to "deception and intrigues in all his political negotiations," expressing regret that Israel has not responded to the flexibility shown by the Palestinian side.
"We are not optimistic about realizing any accomplishment in this stage," said the PLO official, adding that the recent "threats of war" made by Barak were "formal proof of his failure to achieve peace."
He said that if Barak wants to intimidate the Palestinians, this is not the time because the world would not tolerate any new war.
Kadoumy, who was here attending a meeting of Arab foreign ministers held in Cairo Thursday, left for Tunis on Friday.
Clinton presented a compromise peace plan on December 23 as part of his efforts to try to hammer out a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before he leaves office on January 20.
The proposal would give the Palestinians sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods and the Al Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem, but deny Palestinian refugees' right of return.
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