A new date for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's visit to Syria will be set soon, after Israel last week reportedly prevented his departure following deadly terror strikes in the United States.
"It is planned to set a new date for the visit," Khaled Fahum, former head of the Palestine National Council (PNC), told AFP without giving any further details.
Arafat was scheduled to make a two-day visit to the United States on September 12, just one day after the wave of terror attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.
But Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer opposed Arafat's flight and after consultation with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prohibited Arafat's take off, the Yediot Aharonot daily reported at the time.
The Israeli leaders believed that taken in the context of the attacks in the United States, the unprecedented ban would not provoke a backlash, Yediot Aharonot said, cited by the agency.
Top Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said at the time that Arafat would not be travelling to Damascus as scheduled because of the US attacks and their potential fall-out.
Palestinian international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath said later that the visit had been put back to September 19.
Israeli media reports had said that Arafat put off his visit to Syria so as not to be linked to terrorism amid the attacks in the United States.
“The attack on the US required Arafat to decide immediately whether he wants to be a terrorist or a statesman,” Haaretz newspaper had said.
"This is a genuine opportunity for him to get out of the world of terrorism, and this is, in fact, the real test," Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told Israel Radio at the time.
"He cannot hold on to both at the same time - to be engaged in terrorism, while at the same time being accepted internationally. No one can. Yesterday, in the United States, this choice was made clear cut, and no room for compromise now remains. I hope the Palestinians reach the proper conclusion."
Peres, according to the report, compared “Palestinian terror to smoking,” saying that "there's a point in your life where you either quit or you become its victim."
It added that “Arafat seemed to take Peres's advice when he went out of his way to condemn the attacks and pledge his assistance.”
One PA source was quoted in the report as saying that “Arafat does not want to be perceived as making alliances with the radical camp,” in a clear reference to radical Palestinian organizations based in Damascus.
But another Palestinian official said that the trip was canceled because of the Israeli incursion into Jenin and because Israel closed its airspace after the attacks – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
