PLO Military Commander Warns Arafat not to Ignite Unrest

Published July 15th, 2000 - 02:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

A Lebanon-based PLO military leader told Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Friday to expect Palestinians to return to violence against Israel if he bargains away their rights at the Camp David summit, reported The Associated Press.  

"All solutions that omit the right of return for the Palestinians, and the right to establish a sovereign Palestinian state will lead to a revival of the Intifada," said Munir Maqdah, commander of Palestinian Liberation Organization forces in Lebanon's Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp.  

"Palestinians living abroad will make sure that there will be no security or stability for the enemy," Maqdah, an opponent of peace with Israel, said in reference to the Jewish state.  

"We will accept nothing less."  

A fresh bout of violence would undermine Arafat's position in peace talks with Israel and among his own Palestinian Authority, which includes officials who are losing faith in the 1993 Oslo peace accords, said the AP.  

Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak have been locked in talks at the Camp David US presidential retreat since Tuesday, trying to agree on some of the thorniest issues in the 52-year-old Middle East conflict.  

These include the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their former homes. Lebanon holds more than 370,000 Palestinians who fled during Israel's creation in 1948 and the 1967 Middle East war.  

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud insisted on Friday on the Palestinians' right to return, said the agency.  

"This is one of our essential demands. This issue is a time bomb," he said in a statement - Albawaba.com  

 

 

© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

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