OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 9.00pm.
PALESTINIAN leader Yasser Arafat has accused Israel of bringing the Middle East to the brink of “violence, anarchy, war and destruction” and called on the United States, the European Union and the international community to help break the Middle-East deadlock.
Adressing a a joint sitting of the South African houses of Parliament, and speaking later at the Institute of International Affairs, Arafat said: “What we need is real and effective pressure on the Israeli government… We need the same kind of international pressure that was put on the apartheid regime in its last years.”
Arafat said he would ask President Nelson Mandela to prevail upon United States President Bill Clinton to put pressure on Israel to get the Middle East peace process back on track. “It is a question of war or peace in our region and without settling it, there will be no peace or stability in the Middle East.”
Arafat, who earlier visited Robben Island where Mandela was held prisoner for nearly 27 years, told Parliament that the Palestinian Authority has embraced the example set by “my friend, President Mandela” and the people of South Africa.
“It presents the right example and the leading experiment in unity, coexistence and equality,” he said.
The ailing leader — Arafat has Parkinsons disease and speaks only when he has to — will leave South Africa on Thursday, but is expected to return for the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Durban at the end of the month.
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In response to Arafat’s call, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday evening: “Calling for hostile and belligerent actions on the part of nations of the world can not help the peace process.”