Palestinian Reform not Being Dictated by Others: Erekat

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 09, 2002

Palestinian Reform not Being Dictated by Others: Erekat

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Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told US Secretary of State Colin Powell Thursday in Washington that the ongoing Palestinian reform is the Palestinians' own business and not being dictated by anybody else.

"I would like to say to the secretary that the Palestinian reform is Palestinian reform. It's done for Palestinian interests by Palestinian will, and it's not being dictated by anybody," Erekat said when meeting with reporters with Powell.

Erekat, who headed a delegation of Palestinian ministers, said that the Palestinians hope that this reform will be helped and encouraged by starving the attempts of deformation that the Israeli re-occupation of Palestinian land constitute.

He said that the Israeli re-occupation has turned Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps into "the biggest prison in history."

"It's really ironic that today about 50 percent of Palestinian children under the age of five are facing malnutrition; 48 percent of Palestinian women are anemic; one-third of the Palestinian population live on handouts," he said, adding that there is a serious threat for outbreak of diseases.

Talking about the Palestinian delegation's meeting with Powell, Erekat said the US secretary reaffirmed the administration's commitment to the Middle East peace process with its end-game specified with a Palestinian state.

He said the Palestinian delegation also "reassured the secretary of Palestinian commitment to peace, to reviving the peace process and to putting it back on track, because that's in the real interests of Palestinians and Israelis."

"We must begin a process of de-escalation and de-confliction, with the help of all parties that are interested," the Palestinian official noted.

Powell, for his part, described the meeting as "good," saying that they reviewed not only the situation in the Middle East but also the work that both sides are doing together on the political, security, economic and humanitarian tracks.

"I reaffirmed to the ministers that the president (George W. Bush) is committed to doing everything possible to find a way forward, recognizing the difficulties that exist and condemning the violence that afflicts the region and occasionally thwarts ourability to move forward," he said. "But we will not be deterred; we will continue to move forward," the secretary noted.

The Palestinian delegation, which also include Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh and Economic and Trade minister MaherMasri, held a separate meeting with Presidential National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

US National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters after the meeting that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "was not the topic of discussion". He said Rice reiterated Bush's Middle East agenda to the delegation.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting with Powell, Erekat noted that the delegation "is fully mandated by President Arafat and by the Palestinian leadership.""We are not a delegation of freelancers," Erekat stressed.

The visit to Washington by the Palestinian delegation is the first of its kind since President George W. Bush announced his new Middle East peace plan on June 24.

The US president made a sweeping change in the Palestinian leadership a precondition for US support for a provisional Palestinian state and an eventual solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The administration, widely criticized for its biased position in favor of Israel, has insisted that it would not contact with Arafat but continue to work with other Palestinian leaders.

The Palestinian delegation is also expected to meet with CIA Director George Tenet later this week to discuss security issues.

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