NEW DELHI, 4 August 2003 — Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has said he believes an upcoming visit here by Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon as well as India’s plans to buy military hardware from Tel Aviv could worsen tensions between India and Pakistan.
Sharon “can’t offer anything ... What he is saying (will) escalate the situation and war between Pakistan and India,” Arafat said in an interview with the Hindu newspaper published yesterday. Sharon’s visit, beginning on Sept. 9, will be the first by an Israeli head of government since the two countries established full-fledged diplomatic relations in 1992.
It is expected to be dominated by talks on the war on terror, while New Delhi will seek Israel’s assistance in controlling infiltration along its border.
India, which recognized Israel soon after the Jewish state’s creation in 1948, has traditionally been close to Arafat.
But after establishing diplomatic relations with Israel amid a then-flourishing Middle East process, they have built up defense cooperation and exchanged visits at the level of foreign minister. Arch-rivals India and Pakistan have just begun a cautious thawing of frigid relations, after coming to the brink of war last year.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested last year that India should deploy sensors to track the movement of infiltrators from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to Indian-Kashmir — the main bone of contention between the rivals.
Offers for the sale of sensors came from the United States and Israel and reports said New Delhi was seriously considering the proposals.
According to Arafat, New Delhi’s close relations with Israel were possible due to a peace agreement he signed with the then Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1993. “But we hope that this visit will be a pressure for him (Sharon) to make real peace with your brothers, the Palestinians,” he said.
Arafat said he hoped the brittle peace in the region, which has seen a temporary ceasefire by armed Palestinian groups and an Israeli withdrawal from certain areas of the Gaza Strip, would last. “It will lead to peace if the Israelis are committed to implementing accurately the roadmap,” which paves the way for the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
Arafat however accused Israel of dragging its feet on the implementation of its part of the roadmap. “Up to now, they are wasting time,” he said, but added he expected Sharon to implement the peace plan.
Arafat said he regretted that the world community was pre-occupied with the situation in Iraq, which was preventing it from trying to settle the Middle East crisis.
