Arafat Vows He Won't Step

July 12, 2002
By HADEEL WAHDAN, Associated Press Writer

Resisting international pressure that he leave office, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (declared Friday he would not step down — but also said he hadn't decided whether to run for office in January elections.

Arafat made the comments under calls from the United States for the Palestinians to reform their economic, security and justice systems and replace their leadership with a government "not compromised by terror."

In an interview with The Associated Press and Bahrain television at his Ramallah headquarters, Arafat said he would not leave office any time soon.

"I have been elected by the people. I am not a coward. I'm not ready to betray the people who elected me," he said. However, in an apparent contradiction, he said no decision had been made on whether he would run for office.

"It is not only up to me. It will be up to many people," he said.

Arafat spoke as negotiations reportedly were in progress over the fate of a Palestinian whose popularity according to recent polls is second only to that of Arafat, Marwan Barghouti, a key leader in the West Bank of Arafat's Fatah movement.

Israel Army Radio said that under a deal taking shape between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas on prisoner exchanges, the imprisoned Barghouti would be expelled to Lebanon for exile in Europe.

In addition to the expulsion, Israel would release about 100 prisoners and return the bodies of dozens of Hezbollah guerrillas, the report said. In exchange, Hezbollah would free Elhanan Tennenbaum, an Israeli citizen abducted in October 2000, and return the bodies of three Israeli soldiers abducted from the Israel-Lebanon border about the same time.

Barghouti's lawyer, Jawad Boulos, said neither he nor Barghouti have been approached about such a deal, but "if Barghouti's name is included on the Hezbollah list, this would not be a surprise and would not be rejected out of hand."

The report said the negotiations were being handled by the German government, and to a lesser extent, the United States. Relatives of Tennenbaum and the abducted soldiers had meetings with U.S. officials in Washington this week.

Israeli Defense Ministry spokeswoman Rachel Niedak-Ashkenazi refused to comment on the report. "We will not relate to this," she said. "The activity is taking place outside the ministry."

Barghouti, 43, was captured in a raid in the Ramallah area on April 15 during an Israeli incursion and has been held by Israel without charges ever since.

On Thursday Israel announced that Barghouti would be put on trial in a civilian court. Israel says that Barghouti directed attacks against Israelis by Fatah-affiliated militias. Barghouti has insisted that he is a political leader and is not involved in violence.

In an interview with Al-Manar TV, the Hezbollah station, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah confirmed that "serious" contacts are in progress. "I can say that some progress has been made," Nasrallah said, "but we have not yet reached the points which in reality fulfill our demands that are of a humanitarian character."

He said the negotiations were focused on the number rather than names of Palestinian prisoners Hezbollah hopes will be released in any exchange.

In another development, high-level talks between Israeli and Palestinians are to resume Saturday night, said Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat, who is to be one of the participants.

He said Arafat appointed a team that includes Finance Minister Salam Fayed and Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yihiyeh. They are to meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Cabinet Minister Dan Naveh. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.

Peres met Fayed, Yihiyeh and Erekat this week, resuming top-level contacts after a break of several months.

In renewed violence, two Palestinian were killed and three wounded, two critically, in a clash in Gaza early Friday, Palestinians said. Israeli troops entered the town of Dir al-Balah and exchanged fire with police, killing an officer, and searched houses, they said. After the soldiers withdrew Friday morning, the body of a 17-year-old was found in a field. The Israeli military said soldiers arrested a terror suspect, exchanging fire with Palestinians during the operation.

Also, Israeli forces discovered and blew up an arms-smuggling tunnel under the Egyptian border into the Gaza town of Rafah, the military said Friday.

In Jenin, a free-lance Palestinian photographer died Friday, a day after he was shot by Israeli soldiers, Palestinian doctors said. Imad Abu Zahra, 35, was shot in the leg and bled to death, according to another photographer at the scene.

The Israeli military said an armored vehicle stopped after hitting an electricity pole, and Palestinians threw rocks and grenades, then started firing at it. Soldiers returned the fire, the military said. The photographer said the soldiers fired randomly.

Overnight, Israeli forces arrested nine Palestinians in the northern West Bank, and on Friday morning, Israeli troops ordered Palestinian males between the ages of 13 and 50 to report to a school, Palestinians said, adding that the Israelis wee apparently looking for a gun stolen from an armored vehicle.

Israeli forces remain in control of seven of the eight main Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank, enforcing curfews and searching for terror suspects. The Israelis moved in June 20 after back-to-back suicide bombings killed 26 people in Jerusalem.

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