'Not about Arafat, but about the Palestinians' Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa tells Dina Ezzat why international pressure on Israel remains the key to peace in the Middle East There is one photo that appears in the photo albums of both Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Taken in Cairo back in 1994, it shows the two Arab politicians along with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Former Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. In it, Moussa seemed to be engaged in a heated exchange with President Arafat, while President Mubarak is clearly frowning and both Rabin and Peres are looking impatient. The occasion was the opening of the ceremony to sign a follow-up agreement between Palestine and Israel under the Oslo Accords, which would allow Arafat to return to the Palestinian territories. Having agreed to the scope of the territories from which Israel was supposed to withdraw, Arafat was somewhat reluctant to sign. Moussa, as Egyptian foreign minister at the time, was clearly astonished to find the Palestinian leader having second thoughts at the opening of the signing ceremony. After the exchange with Moussa, Arafat went ahead ahead with the signing as originally agreed. The day was saved. Moussa, himself, though puts a somewhat more positive interpretation on this picture. For him, it is an integral part of the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, because it demonstrates what has possibly been Arafat's single most important activity during so many years of struggle towards independence: making tough decisions. "The trouble that day was that the other side was always able to give Arafat reason to doubt what was really going happen," Moussa recalls. And, he adds, for Arafat it was always a question of what the Palestinian people might stand to gain or lose by the decisions he was making. Today, with so many conflicting reports about Arafat's health and his prospects for the future, Moussa is unwilling to dwell on more negative readings of Arafat's stance. Indeed, the Arab League secretary-general refuses to answer questions as to whether on that day ten years ago Arafat was playing his traditional game of blowing hot then cold. "Arafat is the leader of the Palestinian people," says Moussa, simply. "There is no doubt about that. He is an elected leader who is able to unite the Palestinians behind him and who has been trying very hard for so many years to make the Palestinian dream of an independent state come true." Moussa is willing to admit that Arafat has made some tough decisions under very difficult circumstances some were more successful than others. But he is quick to add that the same could be said of many if not all leaders and politicians anywhere in the world. The trouble with the peace process, Moussa believes, was never Arafat or any other Palestinian leader. "The trouble was with the other side. The problem was what the other side wanted to indicate and suggest, but was not willing to say clearly." Today, Moussa believes that the Palestinian struggle is passing through a particularly difficult moment which has little to do with the physical well-being of Arafat. "Irrespective of individuals on either side, the Palestinian cause is now at a critical, and crucially difficult moment. The reason behind the current impasse lies in the unbelievable latitude and shocking immunity that have been granted to the current Israeli government to implement whatever measures it wishes against the Palestinian people , against Palestinian rights and in violation of international law." Moussa believes that claims that the current situation has been caused by Arafat's policies, and that his absence can break the deadlock, are ridiculous. "This is absolute nonsense. This is the argument that the current Israeli government wants to sell to the world. Sharon and [his supporters in Washington] want international public opinion to believe that it is Arafat who is responsible for the current state of affairs and that once Arafat is out of the picture things will start rolling. This is absolutely untrue." According to Moussa, Arafat was never given a credible and serious offer to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In particular, he adds, it is not true that Arafat turned down a historic opportunity at Camp David in 2000. "The [Bill] Clinton Parameters came too late. And even then, they came surrounded with huge Israeli question marks. So while the Americans were telling Arafat that the Israelis were going to withdraw from this much territory, [former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Barak was saying that the offer presented by President Clinton was not exactly what he had in mind. Arafat therefore became confused -- and for good reason." And the government of Israel is still playing the same game today. "It has entered 14 reservations against the roadmap, to the extent that it has rendered meaningless many apsects of its content." The problem then as now, Moussa argues, was not Arafat. "The problem is the lack of any real will on the Israeli side to work towards a fair and permanent peace that could lead to the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state. This is the problem and not whether the Palestinians are represented by Arafat or by someone else." According to Moussa, what the current Israeli government is willing to agree to is "the bare minimum". "Israel may be ready to give the Palestinians a merely provisional state. They think they can sell this to the Palestinians. They think that they can sell this to the Arabs. And every time they fail, they blame it on Arafat." But as Moussa points out, Arafat can hardly be blamed for refusing to agree on a provisional state, since this is something that he cannot sell to his own people. "The Palestinians have the right to aviable and independent state within the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital," says Moussa. "This is not about Arafat. It is about the Palestinians." The final fate of the Palestinian cause, Moussa believes, will depend on the will of the international community, and particularly of the US, to put an end to the current state of Israeli "aggressive intransigence". But the Arab world also has a role to play, in Moussa's view, and the course of events will depend in part on the ability of the Arab states to offer the Palestinians effective support in the face of Israeli aggression, and international tolerance of this aggression. As for the impact of Arafat's own destiny on the prospects of the Palestinian cause, Moussa is unwilling to say much. " I am not going to get into a public debate about the day after Arafat," he declares. "I am very sorry, but I am not going to do it. For this is precisely what the current radical right-wing government [in Israel] wants us to do. It wants to get the world to talk about the day after Arafat, as if the problem is with Arafat. I am not going to give them this pleasure." Instead, Moussa sticks to his position. "There is a Palestinian cause that has to be settled in a just, fair and comprehensive manner, and this cannot happen unless the Palestinians' legitimate rights are honoured." This said, Moussa is willing to admit that the fact that Arafat has been held hostage by the Israeli government in the Moqata in Ramallah for the past three years is a clear indication of the failure of the Arab world to provide the besieged Palestinian leader with adequate support. However, he also hastens to add that "the case of Arafat is not the only sign of an overall Arab weakness. There are other signs of this weakness in the Arab scene, and of course this weakness has had a negative impact on the Palestinian cause." So for Moussa, the question is not about the poor health of the Palestinian leader, but rather about the poor performance of the Arab world, and wider world beyond it, which has continually turned a blind eye to Israel's ferocious and never-ending attack upon the Palestinian people.
