Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa, popularly known as Yasser Arafator by his kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian leader. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, President of the Palestinian National Authority, and leader of the Fatah political party and former paramilitary group, which he founded in 1959. Originally opposed to Israel's existence, he modified his position in 1988 when he accepted UN Security Council Resolution 242. Arafat and his movement operated from several Arab countries...
ProfessionWorld Leader
Date of Birth24 August 1929
CityCairo, Egypt
This was a very successful agreement, ... It is a very important start to achieve real peace and to avoid military activity.
Our duty today, the duty of all of us is to continue the work that I started with my late partner Yitzhak Rabin, to protect the peace of the brave and to continue and complete that work,
We demanded that the United States play a role in pushing the peace process forward and we thank President Clinton and the U.S. administration for that role,
It's obvious that the Israelis were not ready to make the necessary steps, and take the necessary positions, to make a peace agreement possible.
We strive to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, ... We don't want a breakdown of the peace process.
We have no other alternative. And in spite of all the difficulties we are facing, we have one alternative: to carry on with the peace process. This is our strategic target.
We are seeking a four-way meeting. Our position has always been that the European Union must have a vital, effective role in this peace process,
is very important for the international peace all over the world, which means it is very important for the biggest power all over the world -- America.
Peace is a one-way road, ... Let us together remove the obstacles facing us.
When American administration will find that their interest is to follow up with the international conference and to find peace in this area, they will search not only for me, but for any Palestinian to speak with him. And they will say, "We have five million Arabs in the United States. We can't avoid them."
The negotiators will likely continue negotiation sessions, and only after that President Clinton will decide on a date when he can invite the parties to a meeting in Washington.
I hope this will close the chapter forever,
I hope that (Netanyahu) will go to Washington with a positive response to the American initiative, and not to try again to open dialogue, to waste time,
I told Foreign Minister Ivanov that we officially accept the joint Jordanian-Egyptian initiative as well as the report of the Mitchell commission and view those documents as a basis for rapid and resolute actions towards ending the dangerous escalation of developments in the Middle East.