Military

DATE=11/06/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ARAFAT INTERVIEW (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-268893

BYLINE=DALE GAVLAK

DATELINE=GAZA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says he will press President Clinton to get Israel to honor its cease-fire and peace commitments during their upcoming talks in Washington Thursday. Speaking in Gaza, Mr. Arafat accuses Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak of not implementing the truce brokered last week. Dale Gavlak was among a group of reporters who spoke with Mr. Arafat (Sunday) in Gaza. She has this report.

TEXT: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says the Palestinian people are still committed to the peace of the "brave." That is the term that he and former Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin use to refer to their Israeli-Palestinian peace discussions. But he adds that the Palestinians are passing through a very difficult period.

He says he is looking forward to meeting President Clinton and other U-S officials this week in Washington to help surmount six weeks of violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians.

///ARAFAT ACT 1///

I am asking them to push the Israelis to implement what had been signed in the White House and in many other places under their supervision.

///END ACT///

Mr. Arafat says there has been no real cease-fire despite a truce he reached with former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres last Thursday in Gaza. He says the Israelis have not committed themselves to the understanding he reached with Mr. Peres at his Gaza headquarters.

Mr. Arafat says he wants an international peacekeeping force in the West Bank and Gaza. But Israel has said it would reject any such proposal.

Mr. Arafat says that Israel is using weapons supplied by the U-S against the Palestinians.

///ARAFAT ACT 2///

Until now, they are attacking us, attacking our people, killing our children, our women, our people with American weapons.

//END ACT ///

Mr. Arafat says that he appealed to the Israeli authorities to pull back their troops and stop shooting at protesting Palestinians. If the Israelis pulls back their forces, he says Palestinian police would deal with the demonstrators.

Mr. Arafat says that as a sign of good faith by Mr. Barak he wants the Israeli side agree to implement commitments it made with the Palestinians.

///ARAFAT ACT 3///

We are asking what had been signed and agreed upon by him to be respected, implemented accurately and honestly and to stop this continuous military aggression against our people, especially our children, and to stop this siege.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Arafat says that the blockade of Palestinian towns continues, although the truce included an understanding that it would be lifted. He says the uprising has caused an 890 million dollar economic loss to the Palestinians and adds that needed food and medicine cannot reach his people. He says that some 360 thousand Palestinians are now unemployed because of the blockade.

///ARAFAT ACT 4///

It is all around our cities. It is difficult to send food to our people and all our laborers have lost their jobs because of the siege.

///END ACT ///

A major issue for the Palestinians is what the Palestinian leader calls the continued Israeli occupation of Arab territory and the construction of Jewish settlements. Mr. Arafat accuses Mr. Barak of fully supporting Jewish settlers by allowing the building of homes throughout the West Bank and Gaza. He says the agreement he had reached with Mr. Rabin was to stop all such activity.

//ARAFAT ACT 5///

Now, Barak is following exactly what the settlers are asking and what these fanatic groups are demanding and he is supporting them with full support, including giving them heavy armaments.

///END ACT ///

The Israelis have accused the Palestinians of not being serious about the peace process. The Palestinians say they want protection from Israeli troops and an end to the occupation of their land. (Signed)

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