‘No Going Back’ on Battle Against Israel, Arafat Says

PLO leader Yasser Arafat defended the principle of armed struggle Thursday, calling it a “legitimate weapon” against Israeli occupation and a stepping stone toward the creation of a Palestinian state.

“There’s no going back on the course which it (the Palestinian people) has taken,” Arafat told a general congress of Fatah, the largest group in the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The five-day congress is Fatah’s first since 1980; its main tasks will be to elect new leaders and review overall strategy. The meeting opened under tight security in central Tunis with Tunisian President Zine Abidine ben Ali as guest speaker.

Arafat, under pressure to approve violence outside the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, said the PLO has condemned terrorism because it believes in justice and does not want to adopt the same methods Israel uses against Palestinians.

Renounced Terrorism

Arafat renounced terrorism last December as part of a PLO peace initiative based on the idea of a Palestinian state in the occupied territories, alongside Israel within its pre-1967 borders.

The PLO leader, in green military uniform and traditional black-and-white headdress, defended the principle of armed struggle, however, saying it had laid the foundation for Fatah’s political achievements.

“As the legitimate weapon against the Israeli occupation, it gave us a distinguished position in the forefront of the struggle of the world’s liberation movements and won us international support,” he added.

But the intifada-- the Palestinian uprising now in its 20th month--has opened new chances of peace, Arafat said.

“With it, a new stage began. . . . It has brought realistic possibilities that the Palestinian people might achieve what they have been deprived of since the partition (of Palestine) in 1948--a Palestinian state,” he said.

Criticizes U.S. Response

The Palestinian leader criticized Washington for what he called a half-hearted response to the PLO initiative and reluctance to make political concessions to the movement.

Washington opened a dialogue with the PLO in December, but it has bogged down in argument over the Palestinian response to Israel’s plan for elections in the occupied territories.

Arafat again rejected the Israeli election plan in its present form, saying the Israeli government’s real motives were to sabotage the peace process, legitimize its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and delude international public opinion.

The plan envisages elections for local councilors who would eventually negotiate on the final status of the territories.

“The PLO has said any temporary measures must be linked . . . with a final settlement based on ending the Israeli occupation, self-determination, national independence and a just settlement of the refugee problem,” he said.