Voice of Israel reporter Avi Yisakrov had a hair-raising experience today, when he and his Israeli-Arab driver were arrested by the PA paramilitary police in Ramallah. Arutz-7 correspondent Kobi Sela reports that Yisakrov came to Ramallah to cover a meeting between Oslo architect Yossi Beilin (Labor) and PLO chieftain Yasser Arafat. While travelling on a local road there, the driver hit and lightly injured an Arab boy. The two Israelis brought the boy to PA \"police station\" and were held and questioned for about an hour by Arab security personnel. By late afternoon, Voice of Israel news hinted that Yisakrov had been released when it quoted his summing up of the Beilin-Arafat meeting: \"Correspondent Avi Yisakrov reports on Beilin\'s conclusion that the most important message he understood from his talks with Arafat is that the Palestinians are prepared to return to the negotiating table without any preconditions.\" The station reported that also attending the meeting were Oslo architect Ron Pundak and PLO official Faisel Husseini.
If a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute is any indication, Faisel Husseini envisions further conflict with Israel rather than peace. Late last month, MEMRI reported on a speech delivered by Husseini to a forum of Arab lawyers in Beirut on March 21. During his speech, Husseini said that Sharon must not be allowed to achieve security because that would defeat the Palestinians politically. He added that the Palestinian strategic goal is a state from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. Following are some excerpts from the Husseini talk:
\"Blessed be Beirut who broke the enemy and proved that we can defeat the super powers. Blessed be the resistance [Hizbullah], which gave us the hope that the future is in our hands. The Lebanese victory is the great and most important example of the reality in which the Israeli enemy is living, [the enemy] whose defeat begin a few weeks after the Arabs defeat in \'67.\"
\"In Barak\'s period, despite all the tragedies and the barbaric [Israeli] behavior we have broken many taboos and now Sharon is trying to roll things back. Barak agreed to a withdrawal from 95% of the occupied Palestinian lands and if we now allow Sharon to succeed in his political plans whose point of departure is [Israeli] security, it will mean that we will return to the negotiating table on the basis of a right to only 42% of the territory. On the other hand, if we pull Sharon down from the security standpoint, no other [Israeli] party will be able to conduct a dialogue with us except from the point where Barak stopped, namely, from the right to 95% of the territory. This is why we must not let Sharon succeed...\"
If a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute is any indication, Faisel Husseini envisions further conflict with Israel rather than peace. Late last month, MEMRI reported on a speech delivered by Husseini to a forum of Arab lawyers in Beirut on March 21. During his speech, Husseini said that Sharon must not be allowed to achieve security because that would defeat the Palestinians politically. He added that the Palestinian strategic goal is a state from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. Following are some excerpts from the Husseini talk:
\"Blessed be Beirut who broke the enemy and proved that we can defeat the super powers. Blessed be the resistance [Hizbullah], which gave us the hope that the future is in our hands. The Lebanese victory is the great and most important example of the reality in which the Israeli enemy is living, [the enemy] whose defeat begin a few weeks after the Arabs defeat in \'67.\"
\"In Barak\'s period, despite all the tragedies and the barbaric [Israeli] behavior we have broken many taboos and now Sharon is trying to roll things back. Barak agreed to a withdrawal from 95% of the occupied Palestinian lands and if we now allow Sharon to succeed in his political plans whose point of departure is [Israeli] security, it will mean that we will return to the negotiating table on the basis of a right to only 42% of the territory. On the other hand, if we pull Sharon down from the security standpoint, no other [Israeli] party will be able to conduct a dialogue with us except from the point where Barak stopped, namely, from the right to 95% of the territory. This is why we must not let Sharon succeed...\"