VARIOUS: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU SAYS PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT ARAFAT CANNOT SEEK PEACE WITH ISRAEL AND RECONCILIATION WITH HAMAS AT THE SAME TIME

Record ID: 400020

  • Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU SAYS PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT ARAFAT CANNOT SEEK PEACE WITH ISRAEL AND RECONCILIATION WITH HAMAS AT THE SAME TIME
  • Date: 21st August 1997
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (AUGUST 21, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU AND HIS WIFE SARAH ENTERING THE HALL 0.12 2. CU CAMERAMAN 0.14 3. SV NETANYAHU ENTERS PODIUM 0.23 4. SV AUDIENCE 0.27 5. MCU NETANYAHU SAYING: WHEN WE SEE THE LEADER OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, YASSER ARAFAT, EMBRACE TH
  • Embargoed: 5th September 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA6WVV0MH1PL8NEHXV24F6DJCLZ
  • Story Text: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Palestinian President Yasser Arafat could not seek peace with Israel and reconciliation with the militant Moslem group Hamas at the same time.

    Speaking in a ceremony on Thursday (August 21) marking 100 years of Zionism and 30 years for the "unification of Jerusalem" at the Israeli Knesset, Netanyahu said "We say to the Palestinians they must make a very simple decision. They can either embrace Hamas or embrace the peace process".

    Netanyahu's comments referred to the 'national unity' talks Arafat held with the Palestinian Islamic movements this week. The talks were a response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to seal off the West Bank and Gaza Strip after a double suicide bombing in Jerusalem killed 16 people on July 30.

    Arafat told the unity meeting he would not submit to Israeli demands to crack down on Moslem militants and suggested he was ready to go back to the 1987-93 Palestinian "intifada", or uprising against Israeli occupation.

    The United States said it regretted Arafat's remarks. "Those meetings are not very helpful to the peace process", U.S congressmen, Brad Sherman, told journalists following a meeting with Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

    Palestinian minister of planning, Nabil Shaath, told journalists following the meeting that Arafat explained to the Congressmen the security efforts made by the Palestinian authority.


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