Netanyahu Buoyed by Talks With Arafat and Mubarak
Israel and the Palestinians will resume talks this week with “a great feeling of hope” of progress toward a wider Mideast settlement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.
Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat signaled a willingness to compromise, saying he would accept an “international presence” to monitor goods arriving in Palestinian-controlled areas.
But Arafat’s appearance before a global gathering of government and business leaders was a catalog of complaints rather than optimism.
“Is this a just peace?” asked Arafat, citing restrictions on Palestinians who want to work in Israel that cost them $7 million a day. “Sixty-five percent of Palestinian families live below the poverty line.”
Netanyahu, who spoke after Arafat at the World Economic Forum, said Israelis have suffered from Palestinian terror attacks.
The Israeli leader said, however, that his talks with Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos helped create “a new attitude, maybe a new beginning.”
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