Arafat Issues Peace Plea on Israeli TV

Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, appealed to the Israeli people for peace Thursday in an extraordinary message broadcast here on state-run television.

“I call once again on the prime minister, Mr. (Yitzhak) Rabin, and his government to agree to a meeting of the courageous in order to forge a courageous peace,” Arafat said.

In a short statement telephoned from PLO headquarters in Tunis to a program on politics, Arafat commended the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, for repealing a 1986 law banning Israelis’ contacts with the PLO.

“This is a positive step that has to be taken further,” Arafat said in a bid, certain to be matched by liberals here, to open broad and unprecedented contacts between the PLO and Israelis.

The broadcast call was initiated by Israeli peace activist Abie Nathan, who has been jailed twice for meeting with Arafat. Nathan flew to the Tunisian capital immediately after the repeal Tuesday of the law on PLO contacts to celebrate his new freedom to meet with the Palestinian leader.

“I’m sitting here with Arafat,” the irrepressible Nathan, 65, told TV viewers over the live phone hookup. “Here, I’m passing him the phone now.”

Arafat’s statement, made in Arabic, was delayed a few minutes while Israeli TV prepared subtitles in Hebrew. But it appeared to be uncensored when it was broadcast.

Although Arafat has given interviews to Israeli newspapers recently and is now shown often in news clips on Israeli TV, his statement Thursday evening was a rare, direct message to a mass audience here--and a reflection of Israel’s new readiness to listen to the PLO.

“Now the door is open to talk to each other and to understand each other,” Nathan commented. “Probably the next step will be to see Arafat in Jerusalem.”

But Arafat’s immediate call for a meeting with Rabin is unlikely to be accepted because Rabin continues to reject direct negotiations with the PLO, which he condemns for its use or condoning of terrorism.

Rabin and other ministers from his Labor Party had explained that they wanted the law barring PLO contacts rescinded because it encroached on Israelis’ civil rights; they insisted the move did not represent a bid for talks with the PLO.

Yet, Israel has been dealing indirectly with the PLO since the Middle East peace negotiations, held under American auspices, began in October, 1991. Palestinian delegates from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip said openly then that they were acting in consultation with the PLO.

Nathan said those Israelis who want peace had worked hard to persuade the Knesset to change the law, and he asked Arafat to help open the way for meetings between these and other Israelis and PLO members.

“This would help the peace process very much,” Nathan said, announcing plans for a large meeting between Israelis and PLO leaders in Cairo in a few weeks “to break the ice and to make them get acquainted with each other.”

“The next step should be the (Israeli) government talking with the PLO,” Nathan continued. “There is no other shortcut.”

A commentator in the Israeli newspaper Davar predicted after the repeal of the law that the action would add momentum for direct negotiations with the PLO and that scores of meetings would soon follow in Europe and the United States in “a powerful jolt” that will bring new energy to peace negotiations.

“There is at present a small majority in Israel supporting negotiations with the PLO,” Hemi Shalev said. “But there is a considerable majority for this among the two main ruling political parties, Labor and Meretz. And what 10 years ago was a small handful of persons paving the way has now been transformed into a large mass of people, including senior politicians and ministers who are willing to tolerate direct contacts with the PLO.

“While most Israelis do not view the PLO today with any sympathy,” Shalev continued, “during the past decade they have succeeded in adapting themselves to the worn cliche, ‘Peace is discussed with enemies.’ ”

The new discussions will be far different from those furtive get-togethers of the past, according to Shalev, and “mass meetings between Israeli figures and the PLO will accelerate the process of the PLO’s acceptance by Israeli public opinion.”

Arafat hugged Nathan repeatedly as they began their meeting at his home in a Tunis suburb. “This is the first time you come to see me without expecting punishment,” Arafat told Nathan.

Later, Nathan commented, “This is something that I dreamed for many, many years--to be able to come here as a free man and not be afraid.”

Arafat, discussing the Israeli decision with journalists in Tunis, said the move was “a step that should be followed by recognition of and dialogue with the PLO as the single legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”

Israeli Arab legislator Abdul Wahab Darawshe said he talked to Arafat by phone Thursday and that the PLO leader invited all members of Israel’s Parliament to visit him in Tunis next month. Two Israeli Arab members of the Knesset are now on their way to Tunis for meetings with Arafat, Nathan said.

Earlier, Nathan had told Israel Army Radio that he had videotaped Arafat calling for peace and inviting Rabin to meet with him “anywhere in the world, wherever he wants.” Nathan said he hopes the tape will be broadcast on Israeli TV after his return to Israel on Saturday.

Speaking on Israeli TV, Arafat said the climate for peace could also be improved if Israel repatriated more than 400 Palestinians deported to southern Lebanon on Dec. 17 on grounds they had supported militant Islamic organizations that recently increased their attacks on Israeli forces.

“There is no getting away from solving the problem of these deportees to clear the atmosphere for peace and to create opportunities for the peace process,” Arafat said.

Israel’s Supreme Court is considering the legality of the expulsions but is not expected to issue a ruling before next week.

Rabin refused again Thursday to accept a call by the U.N. Security Council for their immediate repatriation.