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Arafat Speaks to Parliament

Aired September 09, 2002 - 14:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Yasser Arafat addressed the Palestinian parliament today. He gave a clear message about the U.S. war on terror, and a mixed one about the conflict on his own doorstep. And Arafat caused some head-scratching about his political future.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yasser Arafat, under siege but still smiling, arrived to address his parliament. An extraordinary session in extraordinary circumstances, a makeshift parliament in a makeshift hall in Arafat's beleaguered compound. Sandbags at the window, Israeli troops entrenched just down the road.

From the Palestinian leader today, after the two years of battles with Israel, an extraordinary endorsement of the need to return to negotiations.

Peace was a Palestinian goal, said Mr. Arafat. And he said, in response to those on the Israeli said to declare that peace does not exist anymore, peace is in front of us, not behind us, he said. After 50 years of struggle, I say, it is enough of the struggle and bloodshed. Let's sit with open hearts around the negotiating table.

But not so extraordinary what he had to say about ending all fighting now. Mr. Arafat did condemn strongly suicide bombings and other terror attacks on civilians, but he urged a clear distinction between terror attacks and what he called "acceptable resistance" to the Israeli occupation. His remarks not nearly as far reaching as that from his own security chief, General al-Yihya, in recent weeks about the need for a full cease-fire.

Possibly extraordinary, though he said it with a smile, when Mr. Arafat mentioned he is ready to give up executive powers, if that was what the council wanted of him. "I wish you would do that," he said, "and give me some rest."

Some of the Gaza members of the council arrived, but a dozen of the 86 delegates were barred by Israel from leaving Gaza to cross to the West Bank. Security was cited. They were compelled to make the link by videophone.

On the eve of September 11, Mr. Arafat reaffirmed Palestinians are on the U.S. side in its global war on terror, but Palestinians don't fall in line with President Bush's determination to move that war on terror against Saddam Hussein. SAEB ERAKAT, PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: We cannot look 1,000 kilometers to Iraq from here and say we support war. We are against this war. War is not an answer. War will just add to the complexities of Arabs, of Palestinians, of Israelis. It's wrong. What this region needs is a breeze of peace.

KESSEL: While the council meeting was taking place, Israeli troops had melted away from the streets of Ramallah, but they remain not far away from where Yasser Arafat was making a distinctive point: beleaguered he may be, but a central factor he remains.

(on camera): If what Yasser Arafat had to say wasn't precisely music to Israeli or American ears, the searing reality for most Palestinians is here on their streets: the continued reoccupation of most Palestinian towns on the West Bank by Israeli forces. And if Arafat went as far as he did, it was as perhaps as far as could go, to be in tune with his constituency.

Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Ramallah, on the West Bank.

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