MILLIYET- Columnist Sami Kohen comments on the recent diplomatic moves to lift Israeli’s siege on Yasser Arafat’s compound. A summary of his column is as follows:
All eyes are on the West Bank town of Ramallah as diplomatic efforts are underway between American, British and Palestinian officials as a part of a deal with Israel to ease the siege on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. In the near future Arafat is likely to return to a more appropriate setting in his post as leader of the Palestinian people.
Parallel to these diplomatic moves, hopes are also increasing that violence might end in the Middle East, which would pave the way to a period of peaceful diplomacy among the involved parties.
There is no doubt that there is a long way ahead on the path towards permanent peace and stability in the region. However, Arafat’s return would be the most important step towards this end. As we all know, four Palestinian militants were convicted of the killing of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi at a trial in Arafat’s compound on Thursday and sentenced to lengthy jail terms. However, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon put forward the extradition of these militants to Israel as a condition to lift the army’s siege on Arafat. This dispute was settled after US President George W. Bush’s telephone diplomacy convinced Sharon to end the siege. One of the factors behind Bush’s successful move seems to be his recent meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Bush suddenly became aware that if he fails to convince Sharon to lift the siege, the first country to suffer great losses would be the United States. This prospect seems to have concentrated Bush’s mind and motivated his moves. In fact, the international community has already been putting pressure on the US and Israel to release Arafat. Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and his Greek counterpart George Papandreou are among the major figures who made efforts towards this goal. After the end of Israeli’s siege, Arafat will have to consider the future of his people, rather than the past. He has a great responsibility to undertake...
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION