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The World: A Dangerous Turning Point’

4 minute read
TIME

The Israeli-Egyptian Sinai agreement has met with expected hostility from Palestinian organizations. Declaring an “emergency situation,” P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat has scheduled a series of strategy meetings with commando leaders. In an interview last week with TIME Beirut Bureau Chief Karsten Prager and TIME’S Abu Said Abu Rish, Arafat denounced the accord as “dangerous because it ignores the basic question of Palestine and the cause of the Palestinian people.” He was careful, however, to avoid criticizing Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Excerpts from the interview:

ON THE SINAI AGREEMENT. This agreement poses a very dangerous and serious turning point in our history. The P.L.O. opposed and rejected this agreement from the time Kissinger began moving toward it. We saw it as a blow against the Arab and Palestinian people, for it was obvious that Kissinger’s move meant to split Arab solidarity. The Arab masses are aware of this American plot. At the Algiers and Rabat summit meetings, it was agreed that the struggle depended on three main pillars: Egypt, Syria and the Palestinians. Now the Syrians and Palestinians are united against this suspected plot. There is no doubt that what has taken place will influence political currents. But we have survived so many difficulties in the past, we are fully confident that the revolutionary potential of the Arab people will eventually win out.

ON EGYPT. It is very wrong to think there is any power on earth, any agreement, that could put the Egyptian army and Egyptian people outside the circle against Zionism, especially when it means turning down the Palestinian cause, which is the core of the whole problem of the Middle East and of the Arab nations.

ON THE PROSPECT OF RENEWED WAR. The agreement will encourage the military junta in Israel to instigate war on the northern front. The frequency of aggression−by sea, air and land−directed against the south of Lebanon and Palestinian refugee camps is evidence that the Israelis are encouraged to make more war. How could any wise man think this agreement in the Sinai, of a few kilometers here and there, has frozen the conflict between Israel and the Arabs? Such a small step took two years. How many years before a real solution to the basic conflict is found?

I believe that peace must be a Palestinian peace, but so far the Palestinian people have not been offered anything. They have not been dealt with. This year has been the year of military escalation by the fedayeen; that has been obvious. We are looking for more escalation. We expect continual support of our cause from the Soviet Union.

ON THE U.S. ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. The U.S. has gained influence in the Middle East−but with troubles. How much did the American taxpayer pay for this mini-step? How much will he have to pay? The Americans have committed themselves to the same historical mistake they made in Viet Nam, when they started with consultants and experts and ended up with more than a half million men. When we went to the United Nations last autumn, we went looking for the support of all peoples, including the U.S. It is very unfortunate that the U.S. sees only the Israeli position and looks through Israeli binoculars, ignoring the 3.5 million Palestinians with all their potentials and capabilities. Thus for the Palestinians, the U.S. and Israeli lines are still the same. This is, after all, not an Egyptian-Israeli struggle, not a Syrian-Israeli struggle. It is a struggle about the Palestinian cause and a struggle for the future of the Palestinian people. Peace, real peace, everlasting peace, is that peace that will respond to the demands of the Palestinian people.

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