The government announced that it would decide later in the week whether or not to allow arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat to attend this week\'s Arab League summit in Beirut. The summit will be held on Wednesday and Thursday. American officials are pressing Israel to allow Arafat to go, in order that the summit not turn into an anti-American forum and one concentrating on Israel\'s refusal to allow Arafat to leave. \"As long as the terrorism continues, Arafat is not leaving the autonomy,\" Sharon said today.
Arafat, for his part, says he\'s not sure whether he wants to go. PA senior Nabil Shaath said today that Arafat will decide at the \"last minute\" - presumably immediately after Israel makes its decision. Shaath said that the decision depends on Israeli guarantees that Arafat will be allowed to return. At a joint press conference with Cheney last week, Ariel Sharon indicated that Arafat might not be allowed back if he delivered an incitement-laced speech in Beirut. Arafat has not been allowed to leave Ramallah for almost four months.
US. Vice President Dick Cheney will not meet Arafat this week, as the Americans feel he hasn\'t done enough to fight terrorism to justify such a meeting. Eleven Israelis have been murdered in Palestinian terrorism since Cheney left Israel five days ago: seven on the I\'ron Valley suicide bombing, three in a Jerusalem suicide attack on Thursday, and Esther Kleinman this morning.
Prime Minister Sharon said last night that he is willing to travel to the upcoming Arab summit in Beirut, in order to present Israel\'s views on the Saudi peace plan. The Saudis are planning to formally introduce the final version of their famous proposal at the conference. The plan calls for Israel to relinquish all the land it acquired in its defensive Six-Day War of 1967 - including the Temple Mount and the entire Old City of Jerusalem, the Golan, the Jordan Valley, and all of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. In exchange, the Arab world would grant Israel one of the following: \"normalized relations, \"regular relations,\" or something in-between, depending on which of various versions of the plan are consulted. Question marks also punctuate the issue of how many Arab refugees Israel would have to take in; the choices range from \"all of them\" to \"a just solution\" to \"no mention of the issue.\" Sharon rejects the notion of a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, but has said that he would be willing to make \"painful compromises\" for a true Israeli-Arab peace deal.
Arafat, for his part, says he\'s not sure whether he wants to go. PA senior Nabil Shaath said today that Arafat will decide at the \"last minute\" - presumably immediately after Israel makes its decision. Shaath said that the decision depends on Israeli guarantees that Arafat will be allowed to return. At a joint press conference with Cheney last week, Ariel Sharon indicated that Arafat might not be allowed back if he delivered an incitement-laced speech in Beirut. Arafat has not been allowed to leave Ramallah for almost four months.
US. Vice President Dick Cheney will not meet Arafat this week, as the Americans feel he hasn\'t done enough to fight terrorism to justify such a meeting. Eleven Israelis have been murdered in Palestinian terrorism since Cheney left Israel five days ago: seven on the I\'ron Valley suicide bombing, three in a Jerusalem suicide attack on Thursday, and Esther Kleinman this morning.
Prime Minister Sharon said last night that he is willing to travel to the upcoming Arab summit in Beirut, in order to present Israel\'s views on the Saudi peace plan. The Saudis are planning to formally introduce the final version of their famous proposal at the conference. The plan calls for Israel to relinquish all the land it acquired in its defensive Six-Day War of 1967 - including the Temple Mount and the entire Old City of Jerusalem, the Golan, the Jordan Valley, and all of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. In exchange, the Arab world would grant Israel one of the following: \"normalized relations, \"regular relations,\" or something in-between, depending on which of various versions of the plan are consulted. Question marks also punctuate the issue of how many Arab refugees Israel would have to take in; the choices range from \"all of them\" to \"a just solution\" to \"no mention of the issue.\" Sharon rejects the notion of a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, but has said that he would be willing to make \"painful compromises\" for a true Israeli-Arab peace deal.