Report: Israeli MKs Convey Message to Arafat from Ben Eliezer

Published April 4th, 2001 - 02:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

Three Israeli MKs met Palestinian President Yasser Arafat Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah and conveyed to him a message from Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, reported Israel Radio, cited by Haaretz newspaper. 

The Mks were Colette Avital from the Labor party, Naomi Chazan and Zahava Gal-On, both from Meretz. 

Chazan, who confirmed the meeting in an interview with Radio Israel, declined to disclose the contents of the message.  

The MK told the radio that she was convinced Arafat wanted to continue negotiations with Israel and that he hoped official contacts would resume in the near future.  

Arafat said he looked forward to restarting security negotiations and returning to the situation that existed before the outbreak of violence.  

She added Arafat seemed "worried."  

PA Gaza Preventive Security chief Mohammed Dahlan also attended the meeting, according to the report.  

Meanwhile, Palestinian State Minister for Parliament Nabil Amr declined to confirm that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's son has met recently with Arafat in Ramallah. 

“I have no information regarding such a meeting,” he said in a statement to Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel on Wednesday. 

AFP has quoted Maariv newspaper as reporting that Omri Sharon met with Arafat on Sunday, and was accompanied by businessman, Yossi Ginossar, a former official in the Israeli internal security service Shin Beth who in the past has led security contacts with the Palestinians. 

But Haaretz newspaper said that Sharon's office declined to comment on Maariv's report. 

In January, Omri Sharon met in Vienna with Khaled Salam, an economic adviser to Arafat. 

The prime minister's son has no official role, but was closely involved in Sharon's campaign for prime minister that swept him to power February 6 - Albawaba.com 

 

 

© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

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