OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 19 September 2003 — Palestinian President Yasser Arafat told Israelis yesterday they should be ashamed of themselves for wanting him dead and appealed to them to help restore a shattered cease-fire. Israeli Cabinet minister Danny Naveh dismissed Arafat’s comments in Yediot Ahronot, Israel’s largest-circulation daily, as part of a “campaign of lies”.
In Washington, US President George W. Bush said Arafat’s failed leadership was responsible for the stalling of his Middle East peace plan in remarks a Palestinian minister said were “not constructive.”
Arafat has launched a media offensive to respond to Israel’s decision to “remove” him after suicide bombings killed 15 people last week. The threat has touched off an international outcry and boosted his grass-roots support. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?” Arafat told Israelis in remarks to Yediot, referring to a recent poll in the newspaper that found 37 percent of Israelis favored killing him and 23 percent wanted him exiled.
Arafat, the symbol of Palestinian nationalism, pointed out it was he who signed interim peace accords with Israel in 1993. But Israel’s extreme right-wing government has accused Arafat of fomenting violence during an uprising for independence that began in September 2000, an allegation he denies.
Arafat called on Israel to halt its military crackdown to help re-establish a cease-fire that militants broke off last month after Israel killed a Hamas leader in Gaza. The assassination followed a bus bombing in Jerusalem that killed 23 people. “Stop the raids, assassinations and house demolitions,” he said. Arafat said he had received a “positive response” from Hamas and other militant groups to his entreaties, but militant leaders said they were unaware of any fresh contacts.
Meanwhile, foiled in the Security Council by a US veto, Arab nations asked the UN General Assembly yesterday to demand that Israel back off from a threat to “remove” Arafat. The 191-nation General Assembly set an emergency session for today at 3 p.m. (1900 GMT) to weigh the request.
While Security Council resolutions on peace and security matters can be binding on world governments, General Assembly measures merely reflect the will of governments around the world, each of which has one vote in the body.
The assembly session was demanded by Sudanese Ambassador Elfatih Mohamed Ahmed Erwa, who chairs the Arab group of UN members, and Malaysian Ambassador Rastam Mohamad Isa, chairman of the 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement.
The US infuriated the Arab world on Tuesday by killing a resolution in the 15-nation Security Council drafted by Palestinian UN envoy Nasser Al-Kidwa and endorsed by Arab and nonaligned nations. The measure demanded that “Israel, the occupying power, desist from any act of deportation and cease any threat to the safety of the elected president of the Palestinian Authority.”
It also called for an end to all acts of violence and increased efforts to implement the international road map for Middle East peace. Eleven council members voted in favor of the draft while Britain, Germany and Bulgaria abstained.
US Ambassador John Negroponte said Washington used its veto because the measure failed to explicitly condemn Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
