Arafat Fixes September 13 For Plo State
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday July 5, 2000
The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has told its supporters to start preparations for the establishment of an independent state by September 13.
This is the date that Israel and the Palestinians have set as the deadline for reaching a final peace treaty.
The Palestinian Central Council, the second-highest policy-making body of the PLO, announced the decision at the end of a two-day conference in Gaza, at which they backed plans by their supreme leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, to declare an independent state this year.
Despite the announcement of a date, it is understood the PLO will still allow Mr Arafat flexibility to announce statehood later in the year, if he should decide this is a better strategy.
This would allow for the possibility that a state could still come about through negotiations with Israel on a final peace treaty.
``A Palestinian state will be declared in the year 2000," said the Palestinian Planning Minister, Mr Nabil Shaath.
But Israel's Justice Minister, Mr Yossi Beilin, said that such a state could only come into being as the result of negotiations.
Even if the international community supported the PLO, a Palestinian state would have no meaning without the blessing of Israel, he said.
``A Palestinian state will not exist as long as Israel does not recognise it," he said.
Mr Beilin pointed out the geographical separation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and noted that these two key parts of a future Palestinian state could be linked only for ordinary purposes through sovereign Israeli territory.
But Palestinian leaders say they are not prepared to wait beyond this year for a state of their own, regardless of whether there is an agreement with Israel.
Some members of the PLO have suggested that Mr Arafat should declare a state on November 15.
This was the date in 1988 that the PLO made its declaration of independence for the Palestinian people and called for a state to be established on land in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
Others argue that Mr Arafat should declare statehood on September 6, when he plans to address the United Nations General Assembly.
But most PLO members believe the date should be September 13 a view shared by Mr Marwan Barghouti, leader of Fatah in the West Bank, the dominant faction of the PLO.
Fatah is also the main support base in the PLO of Mr Arafat, who has threatened to declare statehood unilaterally if no agreement is reached with Israel.
But Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, has warned that he will not accept any unilateral steps, such as the establishment of a state.
He said that if Mr Arafat carried out his threat, Israel would be forced to retaliate by annexing parts of the West Bank, including the areas populated by Jewish settlers.
He would also annex the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank and establish a security zone there to guard Israel's eastern frontier.
President Bill Clinton of the United States wants to avoid a confrontation between the two sides and is applying pressure on Mr Barak and Mr Arafat to join him at a peace summit in Washington.
Mr Clinton is offering to hold two summits, one this month and the other in August.
The first would aim to bridge the gaps between the sides on key issues; the second to finalise an agreement before the September deadline.A Mossad agent went on trial in Lausanne on Monday for a bungled wire-tapping operation in a Berne suburb in 1998, the latest embarrassment for the Israeli spy agency once renowned for its efficiency.
The agent, tried by the Swiss Federal Court under the alias Issac Benta', admitted charges of espionage and using false papers.
© 2000 Sydney Morning Herald