Arafat criticizes Israel for deadly attacks
Palestinian leader agrees to more peace talks
April 18, 1996
Web posted at: 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT)EREZ, Gaza Strip (CNN) -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat described his meeting with the Israeli prime minister as "very positive" Thursday, but criticized that country's deadly attacks in Lebanon.
Arafat called for a return to the 1993 agreements which ban the targeting of civilians. Dozens of Lebanese civilians died Thursday in two separate Israeli attacks, one on a U.N. peacekeeping base near Tyre.
Following Israel's shelling Thursday, American mediator Dennis Ross was sent to the Middle East to try to negotiate an end to the fighting.
Diplomatic sources said Secretary of State Warren Christopher was likely to follow, if Ross could arrange a cease-fire. And U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali was sending a senior military adviser to investigate the attack on the U.N. peacekeeping compound.
Peace talks on track
Arafat and Prime Minister Shimon Peres agreed to resume Mideast peace talks May 4, two months after negotiations were frozen by a wave of Islamic suicide attacks, Peres said.
The Palestinians, in turn, will try to fulfill their pledge to revoke sections of the Palestine Liberation Organization charter calling for Israel's destruction.
The two leaders talked for two hours at Erez, an Israeli-controlled crossing point into Gaza, and later Peres praised the attempts of the Palestinian Authority to crack down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant terror groups.
Peres said Arafat's government "was making a serious effort to catch those still at large who are like ticking bombs."
Palestinian sectors still closed
There was no mention of easing Israel's closure of the Gaza Strip and West Bank -- a security action taken by Israel after four suicide bombings between February 25 and March 4 killed 59 people plus the bombers.
The closure keeps tens of thousands of Palestinians from their jobs. Israeli officials have suggested it might be continued until after Israel's May 29 general elections.
While Peres and Arafat expressed their commitment to fulfill all previous agreements, neither made any mention of Hebron.
The last West Bank city under Israeli control, Hebron was to have been handed over to Palestinian rule on March 28, but Israel postponed the move in the wake of the Hamas bombings.
When Israeli-Palestinian talks resume, they are expected to address the Palestinians' demand that their autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza be upgraded to full statehood.
Peres said Arafat told him that the Palestine National Council, the body empowered to revise the PLO charter, would meet in Gaza City on Monday, two weeks before the May 7 deadline.
The council is the Palestinians' parliament-in-exile. Some Palestinian officials have suggested Arafat might have trouble mustering a majority to amend the charter, especially if Israel does not open the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Dozens of refugees die in attack on base
- Clinton blames Hezbollah for fight with Israel - April 17, 1996
- Lebanon weighs U.S. cease-fire plan - April 16, 1996
- U.N. hears Lebanese complaints about Israeli attacks - April 16, 1996
- No end in sight for fighting along Lebanon-Israel border - April 14, 1996
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