Word: gaza
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...year's end, with or without Israel's acquiescence. During his interview with TIME (see WORLD), Prime Minister EHUD BARAK revealed a position not unlike that of his hard-line predecessor BENJAMIN NETANYAHU. Barak says if Arafat unilaterally declares a fully sovereign state in all the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel would respond by unilaterally annexing Palestinian territories Israel wants to keep for itself, a move long avoided because of the international controversy it would stir. Arafat, says Barak, "will ask recognition from nations of the world, and most of the world will immediately recognize him. There are certain...
...territories that he will claim and we will claim. Immediately a question will emerge who really is the sovereign there. The same night, if there is a unilateral declaration, we will take steps that might include a decision of annexing blocs of [Jewish] settlements [in the West Bank and Gaza Strip] or areas which are needed for our security or areas around Jerusalem and so on. So unilateral steps are a recipe for conflict and for an eruption of violence. It's a very quick countdown toward confrontation, whereas an agreement, even if it is not 100 percent satisfactory...
...tranquillity. Oh, sure, that final White House signing ceremony that eventually ends hostilities will open the way, unevenly and begrudgingly at first, for tourism across the Golan Heights, quiet along the Galilee, coexistence in Jerusalem and joint ventures in Jordan and the Gaza Strip. But a Middle East peace deal doesn't mean peace in the Middle East...
...Pope's speeches were well-crafted humanitarian statements amplifying the Palestinians' need without upsetting the applecart. Arafat's wife Suha, a devout Catholic prior to her marriage who still decorates the walls of her Gaza apartment with photos of John Paul, claimed that the Holy Father's very presence was "a clear message for an independent Palestinian state." In fact, the Pope had neither mentioned a Palestinian "state" nor commented about the future of Jerusalem. Haim Ramon, Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, declared that "what the Pope said today is totally acceptable to Israeli governments" under accords long signed...
...position to seek out business opportunities. If Arafat's men once feared his wife would distract him, that worry has been dispelled. In interviews Suha grouses that Arafat allows little time for her and their daughter Zahwa, 4. The couple sleep on separate floors of their seaside apartment in Gaza City. Says a friend of Suha's: "Because her husband neglects her, she wants to compensate by getting involved in political affairs." If only she had talked to Hillary Clinton about that, the two might have found common cause...