Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 4, 1990 TAG: 9003042014
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: PARIS LENGTH: Medium
The senior official, Salah Khalaf, known as Abu Iyad, also said in an article to be published in the spring issue of Foreign Policy magazine that the Palestinian leadership agrees to extend all necessary guarantees of security demanded by Israel from an independent Palestinian state.
He defined that state as one to be established in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, with the Arab part of Jerusalem as its capital.
An advance copy of the article was made available by the review, which is based in Washington.
"Since the PLO does not expect Israel to take its word for it, the organization expects that security accords will be signed and security arrangements will be made," said Khalaf, who is Chairman Yasser Arafat's top deputy and the PLO's security chief.
Among security guarantees, Khalaf cited the possibility that "Jewish citizens of Israel could live and work in Palestine, just as Palestinian citizens could live and work in Israel."
Khalaf's remark appeared to leave open the possibility that the settlers could remain in an independent Palestinian state.
The PLO, Khalaf said, is aware of the widespread suspicion among Israelis and Westerners that a Palestinian state could become a staging ground for attacking Israel. He said Israel and the West should agree "to putting us to the test" by entering talks with the organization.
"Palestinians realize that more than half a century of hate and fear, with the attendant bloodletting, cannot be papered over with one document," he wrote, alluding to the Palestine National Council's November 1988 resolution endorsing the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza and abandoning the PLO's longstanding claim to all of Palestine.
King Hussein of Jordan gave up his legal claims to the territory in 1988. Jordan lost the West Bank to Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
"The proposal of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israel problem is not the first phase of a plan to liquidate the Jewish state," Khalaf said.
He was equally assertive about minimum demands that he said the organization would never abandon, however.
Palestinians, he said, will not agree to end their uprising against Israeli occupation before Israel enters into negotiations.
In addition, he said, the PLO cannot agree to anything less than an independent state, and it cannot agree to exclude itself from the negotiating process.
The organization will insist on an international context for any talks with Israel to ensure that a deal is part of what Khalaf calls "a comprehensive Arab-Israeli settlement."
by CNB