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Arafat apprises President about West Asia peace talks

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called on President K R Narayanan on Saturday morning to explain the failure of the West Asian peace process and garner support for his plan to declare an independent Palestinian state on September 13. On Friday, he had met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to discuss the current situation in West Asia.

The West Asian peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Arafat, in Washington, DC, collapsed despite the personal intervention of United States President Bill Clinton. The deadlock was over the control of Jerusalem, which both sides are determined to hold on to, and over the West Bank Jewish settlement. Israelis were also against the Palestinian plan to declare their West Bank homeland as an independent state.

After the talks failed, Arafat has embarked on a world tour, visiting Japan, China, Indonesia and Bangladesh to explain the failure of the talks and garner support for his effort to declare an independent Palestinian state. He made a surprise stopover in New Delhi on Friday.

India is expected to appeal to Arafat to continue with the talks and defer his declaration of a Palestine state until some compromise with Israel is reached. The Japanese have already made a similar appeal fearing a fresh outbreak of violence in West Asia.

Though Arafat has not promised anything yet, he has hinted that he would review the date for declaring a Palestinian state.

Ever since the West Asian crisis broke out in 1947-48, India has consistently supported the Palestinian cause. Indo-Palestinian relations run deep. Even though India recognised Israel in 1992 and recently began talks of purchasing arms from the Jewish state, New Delhi has constantly remained close to the Palestinians in general and Arafat in particular. The Palestinians even have a diplomatic establishment in New Delhi.

Recently, when Jaswant Singh was on a tour of Israel, he took a sudden detour to visit Arafat in Jericho and reassure him of the depth and strength of Indo-Palestinian ties. It was a move that went down well with the Palestinians and Arabs.

In turn, Palestine has always supported India on various issues, including the Kashmir dispute, and spoke on New Delhi's behalf at various Islamic forums.

In the latest round of talks, Arafat was seen as being rather considerate. The general impression was that Barak was unable to negotiate effectively owing to the compulsions of Israeli politics. Barak heads a coalition government in Tel Aviv, which includes hardline Jews who are unwilling to compromise on Jerusalem and the Jewish settlement.

But despite the failure, officials from both sides have resumed talks.

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