Beirut | Tuesday
EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview published on Tuesday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat should not attend this week’s Arab summit even if the Israelis allow him to.
He told the Lebanese daily An-Nahar that there was a major risk of the Israelis making it impossible for Arafat to return once he was out of the Palestinian territories.
Mubarak added that he was convinced that the two-day summit beginning on Wednesday would approve a Saudi initiative for concluding peace with Israel, but he predicted that Israel would reject it.
“If I were in Arafat’s place and the Israelis authorised me to leave I would not go because they would not allow me back,” he said.
“They will be able to use any incident at all to destroy what remains of (official) buildings, and the Palestinian Authority would find itself outside the Palestinian territories.”
Mubarak repeated: “If (Arafat) asks my advice, I will tell him not to leave because I have no doubt that they will not let him return.”
The Israelis have kept Arafat bottled up in the West Bank city of Ramallah since December 3, and despite increasing pressure from Washington to let him attend the summit the prospect was still in doubt on Tuesday.
An Israeli official said the government agreed in principle to US proposals for a ceasefire with the Palestinians, but still saw little reason to allow Arafat to go to Beirut.
“Up to now, conditions are not right to allow Arafat to travel abroad,” said a cabinet official who asked not be identified. “He has given no orders to his police to fight terrorism and he continues to incite violence.
“If he changes his attitude, we will re-examine the question,” the official said.
Although the government had said it would decide on Tuesday, the official said no cabinet meeting on the issue was scheduled.
In case of Arafat’s non-appearance, summit officials have made arrangements for him to address the conference by means of a satellite video link, which Mubarak called a “good solution.”
The Egyptian leader expressed support for the Saudi initiative, which offers Israel peace with Arab states if it withdraws from all Arab territory occupied since the 1967 Middle East war and there is a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees.
“But I have no confidence in Israel, and I don’t believe it will accept it,” he said. – AFP