HEBRON NEGOTIATIONS STALLED, ARAFAT SAYS.Byline: Serge Schmemann Serge Schmemann (born April 12, 1945) is a writer and Editorial Page Editor of the International Herald Tribune. Earlier in his career, he worked for the Associated Press and was a bureau chief and editor for the New York Times. The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat warned Thursday that four days of negotiations regarding the Israeli pullout pull·out n. 1. A withdrawal, especially of troops. 2. Change from a dive to level flight. Used of an aircraft. 3. An object designed to be pulled out. Noun 1. from Hebron on the West Bank had achieved nothing so far, and that therefore the Palestinians should be prepared ``to confront all possibilities.'' Arafat did not elaborate on the point in his somber speech to the Palestinian Legislative Council The Palestinian Legislative Council, (sometimes referred to as the Palestinan Parliament) the legislature of the Palestinian Authority, is a unicameral body with 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts in the West Bank and Gaza. . But after the outbreak of violence last month and the subsequent Israeli military blockade of Palestinian areas, it was evident that he was warning of further travails and perhaps violence. ``The Erez negotiations have achieved nothing up till now,'' Arafat said in his address. ``As a consequence, we must be ready in every way to confront all possibilities. You must understand what I mean by this.'' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not respond to Arafat's words, but a senior Israeli official said: ``It is my hope that Mr. Arafat moves away from the language of incitement in·cite tr.v. in·cit·ed, in·cit·ing, in·cites To provoke and urge on: troublemakers who incite riots; inciting workers to strike. See Synonyms at provoke. to a readiness to move forward in the negotiations. We're still hopeful of the latter.'' The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, denied that the talks were stalled. He noted that the negotiators had agreed to move their deliberations next week to the southern Israeli resort of Eilat and the nearby Egyptian resort of Taba, where they would be more isolated. Arafat, speaking later to representatives of countries that have donated money to the Palestinian Authority Palestinian Authority (PA) or Palestinian National Authority, interim self-government body responsible for areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Palestinian control. , appealed for more financial help, saying, ``If you can't give us grants, give us loans.'' He said the money was needed to offset what he called the economic ``tragedy'' created by the Israeli restrictions on movement among Palestinian towns and cities imposed after the violence two weeks ago. He said such ``sieges'' had not even been imposed in times of war. ``I must remind our overlapping neighbors,'' he said, using a term he has increasingly employed for Israel, ``if we are facing starvation, how can they have security?'' At the same time, he insisted that the Palestinians were not afraid of Israeli tanks and would not ``grovel'' before them. Several hours after Arafat spoke Thursday, Israel announced that as of Sunday it would lift the restrictions on the movement of Palestinians among their cities and towns, except in Nablus. The government also said it would allow the return of 35,000 Palestinian workers who had been kept from their jobs in Israel. The blockade of Nablus evidently was being continued in retaliation RETALIATION. The act by which a nation or individual treats another in the same manner that the latter has treated them. For example, if a nation should lay a very heavy tariff on American goods, the United States would be justified in return in laying heavy duties on the manufactures and for the attack there on Joseph's Tomb Joseph's Tomb is a shrine near the city of Nablus in the West Bank. It is traditionally considered by some sections of Judaism to be the burial place of the Biblical patriarch Joseph, and is located in the Samarian city of Shechem; other Jews consider Joseph to have been buried , a sacred Jewish site, where six Israeli soldiers were killed. |
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