- Title: WEST BANK: ARAFAT COMMENTS ON TRUCE TALKS WITH MILITANT GROUPS.
- Date: 15th November 2003
- Summary: (U3) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 15, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. GV: WIDE OF PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT'S COMPOUND 0.06 2. MV: SECURITY AT COMPOUND 0.11 3. GV/MVU: PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT WITH MEMBERS OF VISITING DELEGATION (2 SHOTS) 0.26 4. MV: MEDIA AT NEWS CONFERENCE 0.33 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT SAYING: "This independence day was declared age by age, we still want independence day. All kinds of people - responsible people and Palestinian people want independence day - to declare a free Palestine with Jerusalem as the capital. That was declared in Camp David and before that in the UN resolutions and this is all about independence day." 6. CLOSE OF CAMERA OPERATOR 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ARAFAT SAYING: "I personally always ordered all the parties to meet with our leaders in the Palestinian Authority, I have never stopped any meeting between the Palestinian factions." (REPORTER ASKS ABOUT FORTHCOMING VISIT OF HEAD OF EGYPTIAN INTELLIGENCE) "On Monday our friend Omar Suleiman is going to meet us, and he is coming with new ideas. And we don't forget our brothers in Egypt always supported the Palestinian Authority, working hard to save the Palestinian people, and for saving the peace of the brave that was signed between me and my partner Yitzhak Rabin who paid with his life for this peace." 2.04 8. GV: ARAFAT GOES BACK INTO COMPOUND 2.16 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 30th November 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVA9OOX0KXZXB330DCIKW9VH2UA3
- Story Text: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat comments on
truce talks with militant groups.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat reacted on
Saturday (November 15) to militant Islamic group Hamas
agreement to hold talks with Palestinian Prime Minister
Ahmed Qurie.
Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said on Friday
(November 14) the group was willing to hold talks on a
truce with Israel but said the prospects for an end to
violence were bleak.
Arafat told reporters, "I personally always ordered all
the parties to meet with our leaders in the Palestinian
Authority, I have never stopped any meeting between the
Palestinian factions."
On Monday (November 17), the head of Egyptian
intelligence Omar Suleiman, will meet Qurie and Arafat as
part of a renewed Egyptian effort to try to mediate the
ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups.
"He is coming with new ideas. And we don't forget our
brothers in Egypt always supported the Palestinian
Authority, working hard to save the Palestinian people,"
Arafat said.
A two-month truce declared by Hamas and other militant
Palestinian groups broke down in August when Israel killed
a Hamas official in a missile strike two days after a
suicide bombing killed 23 people on a bus in Jerusalem.
Arafat also commented on today's Palestinian
independence day saying,
"Responsible people and Palestinian people want
independence day - to declare a free Palestine with
Jerusalem as the capital."
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