Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat remains "100 percent" a partner with Israel in the search for peace in the Middle East, former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres said in Monday's Figaro in Paris.
Asked whether Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) were still partners for peace, Nobel peace laureate Peres replied: "Yes 100 percent".
According to Peres, who helped forge the 1993 Oslo peace accords, the idea of separating Israelis and Palestinians "makes no sense" because "the whole of modern economy is founded on the concept of open borders".
"Israel makes a mistake by concentrating too much on diplomacy and the army. Today the economy is the most important thing," he added.
"It is possible today to build in the Middle East something approximating to the situation in the Benelux countries, with cross-border economic cooperation." – PARIS (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
