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Newsletter : 9fax0126.txt
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>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN Jan. 26, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 17
Fatah: "Land Demands Blood"
Israel Faxx Staff Report
Sahar Habash, a member of the Fatah Central Council, delivered a
particularly hostile speech Sunday, in the name of Yasir Arafat.
Habash said that Palestine will not be liberated with agreements,
but that "the land demands blood.... Every piece of land justifies
a battle." Habash promised, "The conflict with Israel will continue
until the goal is achieved."
Mordechai Throws Yamulka into the Ring
By David Gollust (VOA-Jerusalem)
A new centrist political party has been officially launched in Israel to compete in national elections this May. It will be headed by former Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, who was fired by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday.
Mordechai went straight from farewell ceremonies at the Defense
Ministry to a news conference in Tel Aviv to declare his candidacy
for prime minister, and to deliver another blistering attack on
Netanyahu.
Mordechai said the far-right Netanyahu government is incapable of
leading Israel toward a permanent peace with the Palestinians. He
also promised to try to revive a peace dialogue with Syria, and
said Israel should be ready for territorial compromise on the Golan
Heights, which it captured from the Syrians in the 1967 Middle East
war.
Mordechai, who came to Israel as a child from Iraq, stands to fare
well in the polls with Israeli Jews of North African and Middle
East origin -- who are the bedrock of support for Netanyahu's
party. But Israeli political analysts say the new center movement
could also take votes from the left-of-center Labor party and
perhaps open the way to the prime ministers' reelection.
Palestinian leaders are expressing alarm over the ouster. But a
senior Israeli-Arab politician says the splintering of the
Netanyahu government is not necessarily a bad thing.
Mordechai made no secret of his unhappiness about Netanyahu's
decision to suspend implementation of the Wye River Peace Accord.
Despite the freeze, Mordechai had continued personal contacts
with top officials of the Palestinian Authority, including Yasir
Arafat's security chief Mohammed Dahlan.
A close Arafat associate, Cabinet Minister Hannan Asfour, says
Netanyahu is trying to kill the peace process and with Mordechai
gone Israel is, in his words -- governed by fanatics.
But the senior Arab member of the Israeli parliament, Abdel-Wahab
Derawshwe, says the firing of Mordechai and the defection to the
centrist movement of other Likud party leaders are blows to
Netanyahu's re-election hopes in the May 17 election.
In a VOA interview, Derawshe -- a 15-year-veteran of the Knesset --
said anything that could hasten Netanyahu's departure from the
political scene would be good news: "When there is any factor which
will weaken Mr. Netanyahu, I think it is good for Israel, good for
the Palestinians, good for international peace -- for peace in the
Middle East and everywhere. Because Mr. Netanyahu really is the
enemy of peace. I think he is dangerous to Israel, to the
stability and peace in the Middle East, and all over the world."
He predicted Israeli Arabs would support centrist leader Mordechai
or Labor party candidate Ehud Barak -- if either makes it to a
second-round election contest with Netanyahu. He also said he hopes
Israel's fractious Arab population of one-million will pull
together for the election. He says if so, they can increase their
current 12-seats in the 120-member Knesset with two or three new
members.
Arafat May Delay Declaration of Statehood
By IsraelWire
PLO Authority Chairman Yasir Arafat indicated that he might be
willing to delay his planned unilateral declaration of Palestinian
statehood if the United States and the European Union agree to the
recognition of a Palestinian state and Israel agrees to certain
conditions.
Arafat has said that he reserves the right to proclaim an
independent state May 4, as planned, the date marking the end of
the interim period as per the Oslo accords. "Arafat is willing to
consider delaying a Palestinian state until December this year if
the EU and the US recognize the state, and if Israel meets
certain Palestinian demands," said a PA official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
"These demands include freezing Jewish settlement building on
occupied Palestinian land and implementing the Wye River deal," the
official said, referring to the Wye memorandum land-for-peace deal
signed in the White House in October.
In addition, the official said, Arafat wanted an international
commitment to accept Dec. 31 as the new deadline to conclude the
interim deals signed with Israel. "If we have international
commitments to accept a new date such as Dec. 31, then we would
delay. If we don't have a deal with Israel by then, we then have
the right to declare a state that should be recognized by the
world," another official said.
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