Posted on 07/28/2003 5:59:33 AM PDT by SJackson
Selected questions, full interview at the site
Last week, a new Palestinian leader, Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen), came to Washington to meet with President Bush. With the Israeli and Palestinian publics exhausted from the violence that has torn that region for the last two years, their leaders have once again turned to negotiation. Speaking in English in an interview with Newsweek-Washington Post's Lally Weymouth, Abbas said that he trusts Bush to help create an independent Palestinian state. Excerpts:
But the issue of prisoners is not in the road map.
It is in the road map.
A lot of Israelis have been killed in the past two years. Why would Israel release prisoners -- some of whom carried out these killings?
The Israelis also killed Palestinians. So both sides killed each other. We cannot keep this problem forever. We must ask the people to forget about the past and to live for the future.
Don't you have to do something about the terrorists on your side of the line?
We are already doing something . . . especially in Gaza. We control the territory in Gaza and we are working on the military actions from the Palestinian side. I hope the Israelis will stop their military actions.
What about the West Bank?
It's still under occupation and therefore not our responsibility to control the security there.
Does [Palestinian President Yasser] Arafat have to approve the actions that you take?
All the actions, all the actions. He is the leader of the Palestinian people.
People are hoping you can be an independent actor.
No, I cannot be independent. I am a part of the authority.
Israel is building a "security" wall to divide Israel from Palestinian areas. Is this an issue for you?
It's a separating wall. It is built on our territories. It will create a de facto border. It is an uncivilized wall. The last wall which was destroyed was in Berlin, and I hope the Israelis will remove this one.
The wall isn't in the roadmap.
The wall is a kind of settlement. It would confiscate [Palestinian] lands, it divides villages and land and is a unilateral action.
In regard to [the militant group] Hamas, what do you plan to do?
We concluded a truce with them and with other factions. They comply now with the cease-fire, and they are cooling down the situation, especially in Gaza. They stick to their obligations.
But the road map says that the terrorist infrastructure must be dismantled.
We said that we are going to have one authority which will stop the chaos of [illegal] weapons. We will have political pluralism so any faction can express its opinions freely in a democratic way.
Does that mean you think you can turn Hamas and Islamic Jihad into democratic citizens?
Why not? . . . We will try. We have started talking with these factions about being integrated into the Palestinian society. If so, why should we go to civil war or confrontation with these people?
Don't they say that they're dedicated to the extinction of the Jewish state?
[Let them] keep their slogans. I believe that if we reach the state within the '67 borders, they will live with it and will accept it. It's only 22 percent of the historical Palestine.
What's your impression of President Bush?
I think he's an honest man. He is direct -- to the point. And I think he keeps his word. He told us that he will stick to his vision of a Palestinian independent state and withdrawal to the '67 borders, and I believe he means what he says
What lessons do you draw from the U.S. operation in Iraq? Reportedly, Iraq was sending money to the territories.
They [the Iraqis] did send money. I think [the Palestinians] should be compensated by the international community because Iraq sent the money for social aims, for social affairs. So we need the money for social affairs, for the victims and for the martyrs.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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Prisoners ARE in the road map (whether you can find it or not), the fence is a settlement, Bush promised the ’67 borders, and someone replace the money Sadaam was sending the suicide bombers.
[Let them] keep their slogans. I believe that if we reach the state within the '67 borders, they will live with it and will accept it. It's only 22 percent of the historical Palestine.
BWAHAHAHAHA yes the Philisitines have sacraficed soooo much....they lust after the land that Israel became...they never wanted anything to do with this land until after it was turned into a prosperous garden....they dont get it...
If the so called Palys possessed it ..they would turn it right back to a ghetto in a generation or less..
Watch what happens on their side of the wall....without massive foreign aid (most of which will be sucked up by their corrupt leadership)...they will starve and or succomb to injury and disease -imo
If they were truly willing to live peacefully next to Israel they would have meaningfull work as well as the opportunity to send their kids off to be educated and they would improve their lot generation after generation...
As long as they give their will over to allah and his profit...they will know no peace or prosperity ..imo
We are already doing something . . . especially in Gaza. We control the territory in Gaza and we are working on the military actions from the Palestinian side.
Riiight! No I really do believe him, but then I was born last night.
Tel Aviv
Gaza
According to Abbas/Mazen GWB committed to the '67 borders in their meeting. If he's lying, it's time to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem.
They were doing lunch.
Let's see now. He whines about the fence the Israelis are building, complaining about a "Berlin Wall" but expects a "Jerusalem Wall" to be built. Of course, he wants ALL OF JERUSALEM including the ethnic cleansing of 800,000 Jews who live there.
Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery, Love is Hate...am I getting the hang of this?
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