Word: arafats
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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After the Hebron massacre, Jibril Rajoub, an aide to P.L.O. chairman Yassir Arafat, announced that "This crazy man who murdered in Hebron today killed all possibilities of continuing the peace process." Arafat himself asked, "What kind of peace are you talking about if the crimes and killings against our people do not stop...
While the massacre at the mosque was indeed tragic and inexcusable, it cannot be used as an indication that Israel is not negotiating in good faith. Just as Arafat cannot control the Hamas or any number of other radical Palestinian groups, so Rabin cannot be responsible for the act of one deranged American-Jew. Calling off the talks because of this incident would grant the murderer's ultimate wish. It is wrong--and offensive--to suggest that either community wishes for an extended period of hostility...
...demanding the disarmament and dismantling of the Jewish settlements before they return to the negotiations. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, no lover of the settlements, is under deeply conflicting political pressures about how to respond, and many feel he has failed to do enough. Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat will be damned by his own people if he does resume talks, and damned by history if he does not. When Dr. Baruch Goldstein walked into the Hebron shrine and opened fire on rows of kneeling worshippers, his intention was not just to kill Arabs but also to destroy the peace...
Clinton had telephoned Arafat after the massacre and expressed optimism about the talks. "I think they want to come back" to the negotiating table, the President said. But even that seeming promise from Arafat angered some of his top lieutenants. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the P.L.O. executive committee, denied there was any such agreement in principle and demanded, to start with, a U.N. Security Council guarantee of international protection for Palestinians in the occupied territories...
...they always do, the Palestinians hope Washington will push Israel into more concessions. They may have been encouraged by a comment from Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Robert Pelletreau, who said "more than tokenism" was required from Israel. To sound out Washington's intentions, Arafat dispatched Shaath to Washington last week for talks with + Secretary of State Warren Christopher and other U.S. officials. Shaath said the peace process was "the only guarantee that we will have real security in the long run" but that the Hebron massacre had shown the need for interim measures. "We really have...