- Hillel Kuttler and news
agencies. Jerusalem Post: Aug 13, 1993
SEVEN members of the
Palestinian negotiating team have been made members of the PLO leadership
committee directing the peace talks, PLO information chief Yasser Abed-Rabbo
said yesterday.
The appointments, the
first time negotiators from the territories have been given official PLO posts,
ended the week-long crisis in which three negotiators submitted their
resignations to protest not being consulted enough by the PLO leadership.
The resignations of
Faisal Husseini, Hanan Ashrawi and Saeb Erakat were rejected following a
furious row over negotiating tactics, and the three said they would respect the
unanimous decision by the PLO's 15-man executive committee, chaired by Yasser
Arafat, and stay on the job.
They also said that some
of the issues that had prompted them to resign had been resolved and that their
other complaints are being dealt with.
"The executive
committee studied the work and role of the Palestinian delegation and decided
to reject the resignation request submitted by three members of the
delegation," a statement issued by the PLO news agency Wafa said.
"The executive
committee took a number of ... organizational decisions to improve and strengthen
the role of the Palestinian delegation and its capacity to carry out its
national task of defending our people's rights and great aims," it added.
"We decided to merge
the leadership committee of the negotiating team with the PLO committee for supervising
the talks," Abed-Rabbo said.
Asked whether giving
official PLO posts to the seven negotiators was a political decision, he said:
"Certainly."
He said the seven were
the three who had threatened to resign and four others: chief negotiator Haidar
Abdel-Shafi, Azmi Shuaibi, Taysir Arouri, and Nabil Kasis.
Husseini, Ashrawi, and
Erakat first resigned on Sunday, after a heated session with Arafat over a
document prepared by the PLO outlining the Palestinians' stance in the
negotiations.
"I can't tell the
press why we were resigning," Husseini reiterated yesterday before
boarding a plane for Amman. "But I can say that the issue is settled now
and there was an agreement to create a mechanism to resolve all issues."
He was accompanied by
Ashrawi, Erakat, and Abdel-Shafi.
Abdel-Shafi, who had been
mediating between the PLO leadership and his irate delegation members, said at
the airport: "Everything is fine now. It's all over. I am pleased that the
matter was resolved in a pleasant atmosphere."
Ashrawi said that after
the resignations were rejected, "we had a very responsible and
constructive discussion with the leadership ... and we presented a plan for
future strategy."
The State Department,
meanwhile, refused to confirm reports that the US and Russia have issued
invitations to all the parties to resume the talks in Washington at the end of
this month.
"We've asked them to
return to Washington at the end of August," spokesman Mike McCurry told
yesterday's daily press briefing, but added no firm dates had been set. He said
reconvening the talks in early September is also an option, depending on how
the parties respond.
In an address to
graduates at the National Security College last night, Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin said the chance of peace brings danger with it.
"Along with the increasing chances for peace, there are dangers to the security of Israel and its people, and we shouldn't ignore them," he said, adding that only a strong Israel could give its leaders the feeling of security needed to make difficult decisions for peace.
© 1993 The Jerusalem
Post