Palestinians reject Israeli election plan

Press, 28 April 1989, Page 6

Palestinians reject Israeli election plan

NZPA-Reuter Jerusalem With a 16-month Palestinian uprising claiming three more lives, prominent Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have rejected Israeli Yitzhak Shamir’s proposal to hold Palestinian elections.

Troops shot dead three protesters — one of them an eight-year-old boy — and wounded at least 66 in violence in the occupied territories yesterday, hospital officials said. Eighty-three Palestinian activists signed a statement calling the Prime Minister’s plan to choose negotiators for an interim agreement a gimmick that ignored what they said were the main issues — ending the occupation and talking to the P.L.O. The document ruled out elections before the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territories captured in the 1967 MiddleEast war, the same conditions laid out yesterday by a senior Palestine Liberation Organisation official,

Salah Khalaf. Mr Khalaf, better known as Abu Iyad, retracted remarks from Tuesday when he told Reuters the P.L.O. might endorse elections before troop withdrawal if they were part of a comprehensive settlement leading to withdrawal and Palestinian statehood. Israel Television said the Palestinian statement, distributed in East Jerusalem, showed that local activists co-ordi-nated their positions with the P.L.O. But a philosophy professor, Sari Nusseibeh, one of the signatories, said the document was not drafted or inspired from abroad. “The statement comes from public figures who

hold some kind of important position in the regions,” Professor Nusseibeh said. “They are drawn from different political views so it seems to constitute a consensus.” Mr Shamir, who unveiled his election plan in Washington earlier this month, said he regretted the Palestinian rejection and warned them it was the best deal he would offer. “I hope this is not their last word,” Mr Shamir said in a speech yesterday. “But if (the Palestinians) think they can achieve something better, something that might bring them closer to their aspirations that are opposed to the aspirations of

Israel and if they think they can defeat us by violence, disturbances and attacks, they are mistaken.” Mr Shamir rejects talking to the P.L.0., which he brands a terrorist group, and an independent Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In Gaza, hospitals said troops shot dead two youths and wounded at least 61 protesters, the highest casualty toll for a single day since violence started mounting during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. An Army spokesman confirmed only six wounded in Gaza and four in the West Bank, where an eight-year-old boy was shot dead by troops.