MIDDLE EAST: PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD: ANGRY PROTESTS (2) скачать в хорошем качестве

MIDDLE EAST: PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD: ANGRY PROTESTS (2)

(4 May 1999) Natural Sound There were angry demonstrations in the West Bank to mark May 4th - the day slated for the Palestinians' declaration of statehood. Under the Oslo agreement, independence was to have been in place by Tuesday, but the Palestinian leadership decided to delay a decision on unilateral declaration until after the Israeli elections. The decision marked a retreat for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat who has pledged for months to declare a state. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to claim credit. In the West Bank city of Hebron, hundreds of masked Palestinians took to the street to protest against the decision by the Palestinian Central Council (PCC) not to declare a Palestinian state. May 4 was the day set out in accords with Israel for the completion of a final peace deal. However, the Palestinian Authority decided last month not to declare statehood as planned, but to take up the issue again after Israel's May 17 election. The decision marked a retreat for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who has for months pledged to declare a state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had threatened to annex parts of the West Bank in response to a statehood declaration, attributed the Palestinian decision to his own tough stance. Anger over the decision to delay the declaration also prompted protests in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where stone-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces. Around 100 demonstrators pelted Israeli soldiers, who responded with tear gas. Three Palestinians were slightly wounded in the clashes. Arafat, who was in Dublin on Monday meeting Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, warned that the Middle East peace process had been frozen by Israeli policies. And he warned that the region was passing through what he called "difficult days." The Palestinians invited hundreds of people to a gathering at Orient House, the P-L-O headquarters in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem. Orient House is seen by the Palestinians as the beginning of a complex of government buildings in a future capital. Israel's police issued an order barring the top P-L-O official in Jerusalem, Faisal Husseini, from inviting foreign diplomats to Orient House. Husseini insists Arafat's tactics on declaring statehood will be rewarded. SOUNDBITE: (English) "During the last period, from the day that Yasser Arafat announced that the 4th May we must have such a declaration, and through his visits everywhere, I believe that he makes a very important job and the result was it is no more a question if we will have a Palestinian state, but a question of when we will have a Palestinian state." SUPERCAPTION: Faisal Husseini, Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem However if Benjamin Netanyahu has his way, the answer to that second question will remain elusive. At a press conference in Jerusalem, the Israeli Prime Minister claimed credit for Arafat's decision. SOUNDBITE: (English) "It's the fourth of May and the important news is there is no declaration of Palestinian statehood, with Jerusalem as its capital. This is not something that came in of itself, Arafat has been promising for a full year to declare such a state, threatening to do it, and we for a full year have been telling him not to do so and he has wisely backed down." SUPERCAPTION: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister The Israeli leader went on to pledge that, if he wins the election, he will continue to prevent any such unilateral declaration. SOUNDBITE: (English) Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...