According to a senior official of the Palestinian Authority,
Yasser Arafat has agreed to postpone the declaration of
Palestinian statehood he has repeatedly threatened to make on
May 4, the date the interim Oslo peace accords expire. The
timing became problematic once the Israelis scheduled elections
for May 17. As much as Arafat may abhor the idea of allowing
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to crow that his tough
positions forced the Palestinian leader to back down, he fears a
declaration would inflame Israeli passions and thereby help
Netanyahu's reelection efforts.
According to the Palestinian official, Arafat is trying to
extract some advantage from the postponement. Most of all, he
wants the U.S. to state plainly, before May 4, that it supports
Palestinian self-determination.
Meanwhile, European diplomats are pushing a plan whereby the
Palestinian people would finally get to vote in municipal
elections in April as compensation for delaying the statehood
declaration. Arafat, says the source, has put off such voting,
fearful that Muslim radicals would perform well and thus further
challenge his authority.
