28 March - 3 April 2002
Issue No.579
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 28 March - 3 April 2002 Issue No.579 |
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Ramallah or nowhere
There was more to Arafat's attendance of the Beirut Summit than Sharon. Dina Ezzat reports from Beirut
"Arafat said that he will not go to the summit unless he can return to the Palestinian territories; this is not only because he has to be on his land with his people but also because he knows that there is no Arab capital that would welcome him if Sharon keeps him out," one close aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat told Al-Ahram Weekly.
According to this source, when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that he would let Arafat go to Beirut if he implements the Tenet cease- fire plan and will let him return to Ramallah if he avoids "incitement" during the summit, several Arab capitals sent direct or indirect signals to suggest that the Palestinian leader needs to know that he will not be welcome in any of them. Some capitals, said the source, argued that he is safer at home than in any Arab capital.
"Actually, some Arab capitals suggested that it was best for him to avoid the Arab summit because intelligence information suggested that he might be killed at the hands of Palestinian opposition the very day he arrives to Beirut," the source said. Other capitals opted for another choice to spare themselves the embarrassment of having to deny Arafat hospitality; they just kept a big distance. "They simply would not call him or talk to him; they wanted to avoid him; they treated him in such an insulting manner that he was very upset and hurt," the Palestinian source commented.
Particularly concerned over Arafat's potential expulsion from the Palestinian territories was Lebanon. Over the past two weeks the Lebanese press has been carrying more than a hint that Arafat is welcome to come to the summit but that he will not be welcome beyond the stay of other Arab leaders. While most Arab journalists in Lebanon to cover the summit were asking officials about Arafat's potential participation, the Lebanese reporters were busy asking another question: "Are there guarantees that he would go back after the summit?"
This Lebanese "sensitivity" did not come as a surprise for the other participants at the summit. The Lebanese establishment as well as a significant section of public opinion are of the view that Lebanon has suffered much from its close association with the Palestinian cause and, more significant, the PLO's presence in Lebanon throughout the '70s and up to the Israeli invasion of 1982. Recent history is further compounded by the continuing presence of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Lebanon's adamant rejection of the very idea that Arafat might have to stay on after the summit is not, however, and expression of concern over the fragile state of the multi-factional Lebanese society barely recovering from the destructive effects of a long and bloody civil war. There is also the fear -- conveyed repeatedly to many senior Arab officials -- that "mad Sharon" may use Arafat's presence in Lebanon to re-invade it.
Especially worrying to the Lebanese authorities is the possible reaction within Palestinian refugee camps. Since the PLO was pushed out of Lebanon following the Israeli invasion, conditions of Palestinians in Lebanon have deteriorated drastically. The end of the civil war and return to normalcy has done little to improve the lot of Palestinian refugees in the country, who remain stateless, suffer from extensive legal discrimination, poverty and massive unemployment.
Arafat's presence in Lebanon, especially if he finds himself stranded there, may be just the thing to ignite rebellion in the Palestinian camps. To guard against such an eventuality, an aide to Arafat told the Weekly, "We have been conducting intensive contacts with the heads of these camps over the past three months to ensure that they would keep to their camps and avoid any fighting when and if Arafat arrives to take part in the summit."
The close association that Beirut has with Damascus is yet another cause for concern, it appears. Syria is strongly opposed to the political line taken by Arafat in conducting relations with the Israelis and Americans. It has been offering serious support to Arafat's political opposition and is not prepared to worry about Arafat's safety, according to several Arab diplomats.
To these concerns, Palestinian officials have had one reply: Arafat is not interested in staying in Lebanon. "In 1982 Arafat left after having signed an agreement that he would never come back to stay; this agreement is still valid. We said this to our brothers in Lebanon who have been expressing serious concern over the possibilities of having Arafat stuck in Beirut," the Palestinian source told the Weekly.
Earlier this month, during a stop-over in Tel Aviv on his way to a meeting with the besieged Arafat in Ramallah, Hamad Bin Jassim, the Qatari foreign minister, met with top Israeli officials to discuss Arafat and the summit. According to informed Arab sources, Bin Jassim met with senior Israeli officials and told them to let Arafat go to the summit with a promise that Qatar will take him in if they did not want him back. Bin Jassim then went to Arafat offering financial aid and a vague promise of hospitality if Israel decided to keep him out after the summit. "We told our Qatari brothers that we are grateful for their efforts but that President Arafat feels that his strength as a Palestinian leader would be greatly undermined if he left his people in the middle of the struggle for independence to stay in any other capital that may want him out at any unpredictable moment," Arafat's aide said. He added, "In Ramallah Arafat is the Palestinian leader. Once out of Ramallah, Arafat will be a political refugee. This is not what he wants especially at a time when the Americans and even some of the Arabs are discussing the 'morning after Arafat'. Arafat is not stupid."
But there have been moments during the past few months when Arafat pondered the wisdom of staying in Ramallah or leaving. He has been advised by some of his close aides that he is safer and better connected to the world if out of Ramallah. But at the end of the day, the source said, Arafat feels he is better off in Ramallah than in any other capital that would impose its own set of political and security restrictions over him.
Arafat's aide concluded: "Sharon may want Arafat out so that he can get rid of him at the hands of a hostile Palestinian militant. The Arab capitals may want him in [Ramallah] to avoid having him killed on their land. But it is the will of the Palestinian people that Arafat has to worry about."
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