22 August, 2000

Council for Arab-British Understanding
1 Gough Square
London EC4A 3DE

T: 020 7832 1310
F: 020 7832 1329

Middle East Talks -The Times

Your editorial ("Against the Clock" - Tuesday 15th August 2000) suggests that President Arafat is the "sole roadblock" to the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks. Whilst it is vital that the peace process continues, it is essential to dispel the Clinton-inspired myth that Ehud Barak is the one offering all the compromises while Arafat remains stubborn and inflexible. Camp David was an unequal negotiating process heavily weighted in Israel’s favour. Israel is a regional nuclear power fully supported by a partisan United States. Arafat should not be castigated for his refusal to surrender to the immense pressure exerted on him to accept Barak’s so-called "substantial concessions". Any peace agreement would be both temporary and illusory. Arafat has merely insisted on the basic rights that the Palestinian people are entitled to according to both international law and United Nations Security Council Resolutions. Any peace agreement should be implemented in accordance with these principles, in particular Resolution 242, leading to the creation of a viable, sovereign Palestinian state in the entirety of the West Bank and Gaza, with a shared and just solution for Jerusalem. This is clearly the position of the vast majority of the international community. Rather than focusing on Arafat’s threat to declare an independent Palestinian state unilaterally, we should be looking towards Israel’s threats to annex the remainder of the West Bank, a blatant violation of Palestinian rights which has nothing to do with Israel’s security as is claimed. Yours faithfully,