European Union Maintains Arafat’s Legitimacy
March 02, 2004
By MIFTAH

While speaking at a press conference in Washington today, Irish FM Brian Cowen reaffirmed the standing EU policy towards President Arafat as the rightful leader of the Palestinian people.

The press conference that was held by the Irish FM and the US Secretary of State Colin Powell followed their closed session meeting, which dealt with the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq and President Bush’s latest initiative to promote democracy in the Middle East, called the “Great Middle East Plan.”

Mr. Cowen’s statements maintain the disagreement between the EU and the US administration over Arafat’s legitimacy. The contentious issue has been in the forefront of meetings between EU and US officials for a long time, the latter trying hard to persuade the EU to abandon Arafat and adopt its policy of marginalizing the Palestinian president. The EU has rejected US and Israeli policies boycotting President Arafat, continuing to insist that the international community deal with the elected Palestinian leadership.

The Irish FM, representing the European Union, called on Israeli PM Sharon to promptly meet with Palestinian PM Ahmed Qureia. No meeting between the two Prime Ministers has so far taken place and several attempts to schedule a meeting failed, after having been called off at last moment by Israel.

While Mr. Cowen was re-asserting the importance to help the two sides to "take small, concrete and visible steps" under the "road map," the US administration has met with an Israeli delegation, headed by Sharon’s bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, to discuss the Israeli “disengagement” plan from Gaza. The Israeli “disengagement” plan has been successfully overshadowing the “road map” and contradicts the principles of the “road map” by its unilateral character.

The Israeli delegation, which met with both Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, to discuss the details of the “disengagement” plan, also related Sharon’s request for a written agreement with the US, which would relieve him from holding negotiations with the Palestinian leadership until it is changed. Furthermore, Sharon is seeking US approval to build in the settlement blocs of Ariel, Gush Etzion and Ma'aleh Adumim, which are intended to be annexed in the future. Sharon is expected to meet with President Bush by the end of March to finalize the agreement.

In other news, Khalil Al-Zaben, an advisor to PNA President Yasser Arafat and prominent publisher, was killed by unidentified gunmen in a street ambush earlier today as he was leaving his office in Gaza city. Al-Zaben’s murder comes to highlight the increasing level of lawlessness and chaos prevailing in Gaza, which the deceased had been a strong critic of President Arafat, who led the tributes to Khalil Al-Zaben, said that the “the assassination is an abject act which targeted a great Palestinian figure who was working for the national interest and that of his people," and that "we will not stay silent, under any circumstances.”

In turn President Arafat’s absence from the opening of the new parliament building together with a number of deputies jailed by Israel was lamented by Palestinians who were celebrating its inauguration. Most of the Palestinian Legislative Council's 88 deputies as well as a host of diplomats attended the inauguration ceremony in Ramallah. The parliament's speaker Rafiq al-Natshe said that "it is ironic that a modern democracy (Israel) has prevented this council meeting in its entirety for the last three years and is continuing to do so.”

Also earlier this morning, an unarmed Palestinian (27) was killed by Israeli forces in the Palestinian village of Yatta, outside Hebron. The Palestinian man was killed during a siege laid by the Israeli military on the home of a pursued militant. According to Israeli sources the man had ignored orders to stop, but no arms were found on the dead man’s body. Clashes between local youths and the Israeli military followed the killing.