Facing a mounting backlash in the Arab/Islamic world for his apparent tilt towards Israel in recent weeks, US President George W. Bush is reportedly considering holding his first meeting with PLO chief Yasser Arafat on the sidelines of the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in early September.
Palestinian gunmen and rioters rampaged in the Ramallah area after a rare visit by PLO chief Yasser Arafat and the arrest of the brother of a senior Fatah commander.
With Israel now definitely heading into a campaign season, rumors are flying again that Prime Minister Ehud Barak is conducting secret negotiations with the Palestinian Authority in hopes of reaching an election-eve peace deal that will save his political career.
With less than four weeks left in office, US President Bill Clinton is holding to a Wednesday deadline for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to agree to accept his “outline of principles” for resolving their differences. The short time fuse has intensified debate in Israel over surrendering parts of Jerusalem, especially the Temple Mount, and forced PLO chief Yasser Arafat into a critical decision concerning the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees.
Outgoing US President Bill Clinton’s hasty drive to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by January 20 sputtered again on Thursday when Arab foreign ministers enshrined the Palestinian right of return as “sacred.” The decision reinforces PLO chief Yasser Arafat’s hard-line stand on an issue Clinton’s “outline” for peace requires him to compromise and calls into question Washington’s claim Arafat has said “yes” to the president’s plan.
The week-long Taba peace talks concluded on Saturday with an upbeat assessment from Israeli negotiators – backed up by a joint statement with the Palestinians – that the two sides were “closer than ever” to a final agreement, and just needed a little more time to close the deal.
After Prime Minister Ehud Barak gave his approval, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators launched an intense round of peace talks in Sinai on Sunday to try to reach a framework agreement before the February 6 election in Israel. Barak is playing down expectations and blaring his “red lines” to Israeli voters, but his negotiating team seemed a bit surprised by the Palestinian side’s sudden willingness to quickly ink an accord.
In a decisive showdown in the Sinai on Monday, key regional and world leaders will goad Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO chief Yasser Arafat to meet face-to-face to discuss terms for ending the lethal Palestinian uprising over the past two weeks. There appears to be little reason for optimism that a truce can be concluded quickly, or that the Oslo peace process can be revived anytime soon.
PLO chief Yasser Arafat has launched another trademark whirlwind tour in search of more international support for the Palestinian intifada, but his latest anti-Israel offensive found little traction this week at the United Nations or Arab League.
With the Israeli government declaring early today that it will have no more dealings with Yasser Arafat, and as military forces step up attacks on Palestinian Authority positions following Wednesday’s terrorist blitz, security sources say there is growing evidence that Arafat has been working for some weeks to lead the Middle East into a major new conflict. They say this could be part of a larger effort to bring much of the world to war. Although the evidence is still mainly circumstantial at this point, they maintain it is substantial enough to be taken seriously by regional and international leaders.
“There is no better example of the cynical attitude of the Palestinian Authority,” and of Arafat himself, to acts of terror than their handling of the Dolphinarium suicide slaughter that claimed 21 young lives. So wrote military correspondent Ze’ev Schiff in Ha’aretz (June 22).
Iran is planning to host a two-day international conference this week called to build support for the Palestinian intifada, and PLO chief Yasser Arafat could be the guest of honor.
Never one to turn down an important meeting, PLO chief Yasser Arafat hosted an unusual pair of Israeli envoys of late, Omri Sharon -the controversial son of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon – and Labor dove Yossi Beilin.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is proposing another round of peace talks in an attempt to reach an agreement before Israeli elections on February 6th.
JERUSALEM – 12 October 2000. The intense media war had already been raging for two weeks. Now, tank fire and helicopter rockets have been unleashed – against Yasser Arafat’s governmental and broadcasting positions. Today’s missile attacks on Palestinian government targets in Ramallah and Gaza City sent the clearest message possible that the Barak government, reflecting the anguished feelings of most of its Jewish citizens, has abandoned all hopes of ever signing a workable peace accord with the current Palestinian leader.
Armed Palestinian rioters confronted Israeli troops at key flashpoints for the seventh straight day on Wednesday, while the US summoned Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to Paris in a desperate bid to douse the unremitting flames of the “Al Aqsa uprising.”
On the sidelines of today’s opening of the United Nation’s historic “Millennium summit” – billed as the largest-ever gathering of world leaders – US President Bill Clinton will confer separately with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a last-ditch bid to broker a compromise in their high-stakes fight over Jerusalem.
The Israeli-Palestinian peace track ground to a pronounced halt this week, as US President Bill Clinton was unable to convince PLO chief Yasser Arafat to give up his delusions of immortal fame as a modern-day Islamic liberator of Jerusalem.
An Israeli official confirmed Monday that PLO chief Yasser Arafat has salted away $20 million in pilfered funds in a Swiss Bank account, a nest egg that Israeli security believes he has offered to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in exchange for a safe haven if forced to leave Gaza.