Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, branded an absolute obstacle to peace by Israeli premier Ariel Sharon, is trying to exploit Monday’s launch of an unofficial peace plan to portray his arch-enemy as the real hurdle to a resolution of the Middle East conflict, according to observers.
Despite the rejection of the so-called Geneva Initiative by the main Palestinian factions, including his own Fatah movement, Arafat decided to send his national security adviser, Jibril Rajoub, and Cabinet minister Qaddura Fares to Switzerland for the launch of the virtual peace accord.
And even though the two-year long Israeli blockade of his headquarters in Ramallah ruled out any possibility of Arafat himself attending, sources said that a speech would be delivered in his name.
Ahead of his departure to Geneva, Rajoub underlined that his presence did not necessarily signify that Arafat was giving it his official seal of approval.
”This decision reflects a desire by the Palestinian leadership to encourage the Israeli peace camp,” said Rajoub.
The decision by Arafat to despatch Rajoub and Fares to Switzerland came shortly after the Fatah central committee formally rejected the accord.
But Fatah deputy Hatem Abdel Qader said that Arafat did not want to toss away the chance of gaining the upper hand over Sharon in their battle for international support.
”President Arafat does not want to sacrifice the gains that the Geneva Initiative can bring him,” said Qader.
”This is the reason why the Palestinian leadership has adopted an ambiguous rather than a clear-cut official position.”
According to Fatah heavyweight Sakher Habash, Arafat is looking to seize the intiative as a chance to appear as a man of peace, thus portraying Sharon as an obstructionist for his rejection of the project.
Sharon’s government threatened to expel Arafat earlier this year after officially declaring him an ”absolute obstacle to peace”.
”He [Arafat] thinks that this initiative can bring about the demise of Sharon and improve his own image,” said Habash, who is also a fierce opponent of the project.
”For Arafat, there will be a consensus that Sharon is an obstacle to peace and he thinks that he can profit from this Geneva Initiative,” added Habash.
But Habash ruled out any prospect of Arafat putting his signature to a document that effectively renounces the right of return for the Palestinians either who either fled or were forced out of their homes at the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 — one of the ultimate tenets of Palestinian nationalism.
Sources close to Arafat said the veteran leader was given regular updates during the two years of negotiations on the accord conducted by his one-time information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, who remains a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
”The Palestinian promoters of this project could not have drawn up the document or gone to Geneva without the approval of Yasser Arafat,” one source said on condition of anonymity.
According to the Palestinian analyst Hani Al-Masri, Arafat cannot give his official backing to Geneva ”as long as there is no official partner in Israel”.
Sharon has dismissed Geneva as ”dangerous”, insisting that the United States-backed ”road map” is the only framework through which peace with the Palestinians can be achieved.
”He finds himself forced to support this plan implicitly so as not to appear an obstacle to peace,” said Masri.
The Geneva plan aims to address many of the most contentious issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is much more detailed than the ”road map”.
Under its terms, Israel would have to relinquish most of the West Bank and share sovereignty over Jerusalem, while the Palestinians would effectively waive the right of return of 3,8-million refugees. — Sapa-AFP