Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat offered to meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to talk peace, in an interview broadcast Sunday on Channel 10 TV. "I extend my hand to Sharon, to the people, to the Knesset (parliament), to the government of Israel," Arafat said in a rare interview on Israeli television, offering to talk peace. "I am prepared to meet with Sharon," Arafat said. "Why not? If there is a will for peace, it will overcome all other ideas." Arafat added that if Sharon was unwilling to meet with him, he should at least meet with PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala). "Haven't I met him in the past. Peace is not made between friends," Arafat said.
Channel 10 TV interviewed Arafat on Sunday at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where Arafat has been trapped by Israeli troops for more than two years. An edited version of the interview was broadcast Sunday evening. Arafat repeated the pledge that the PA was ready to take over the Gaza Strip following an Israeli withdrawal, on condition that the withdrawal is "real and complete". Arafat charged that the Palestinian Authority is able to stop terrorism, and said his forces have done so in the past. "We have thwarted 34 attacks in the past six weeks," Arafat told Channel 10.
Charging that Arafat is implicated in Palestinian violence, Israel has declared a boycott of the veteran Palestinian leader and tried to sideline him. Last year the Israeli Cabinet declared him an obstacle to peace that must be removed, leading to speculation that Israel would try to exile him or kill him, but no move has been made. In offering talks with the Israelis, Arafat said there is no need "to open a new page, but to implement what has already been agreed on." Asked why he refuses to step aside and allow younger leaders to take the reins of the Palestinian leadership, Arafat replied, "What about Sharon? He is my age. And [Shimon] Peres is older than me. The question is not age, but deeds. I am an elected leader." Arafat complained of the effects of being confined to his office building, saying his doctors recommended that he get more air and exercise. "Imagine that I go out to see people, go outside, I get tears in my eyes," he said. Arafat does not venture past the sandbagged entrance of his office, fearing Israeli snipers. |