Arafat declares support of West in meeting with Blair

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat on Monday positioned himself as a key ally in the fight against Osama bin Laden’s terror network and received strong support from British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the creation of a Palestinian state.

After a high-profile meeting at 10 Downing St., Arafat echoed Blair’s oft-stated assertion that the United States and Britain are not engaged in a war against Islam. He also rejected bin Laden’s claim to be championing the cause of the Palestinian people.

“Fighting terror is not a war against Arabs or Muslims or Islam,” Arafat said. “Our Palestinian cause is a just cause. ... There can be no mix between our just cause and the methods and objectives that are unjust, the terrorist acts and the killing of civilians like what happened in the United States.”

Blair, in turn, called for the urgent resumption of Middle East peace negotiations.

“A viable Palestinian state, as part of a negotiated and agreed settlement which guarantees peace and security for Israel, is the objective,” Blair said at a joint news conference.

“The end we desire ... is a just peace in which Israelis and Palestinians live side by side, each in their own state, secure and able to prosper and develop,” he said.

Later Monday, Blair spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The two leaders agreed to meet early next month in London.

The United States and Britain have become convinced that progress toward peace between Israelis and Palestinians is vital to maintaining the support of Muslim and Arab countries for the war against bin Laden and his hosts, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist network is believed to be responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In a video broadcast after U.S. airstrikes began in Afghanistan more than a week ago, the Saudi militant claimed to be fighting in part for the Palestinian cause. He warned Americans that their country “will not live in peace before peace reigns in Palestine and before all the army of infidels departs the land of Mohammed,” a reference to U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.

Arafat’s forces cracked down on a demonstration held in support of bin Laden last week. And after Saudi Arabia reportedly refused to receive Blair during a tour of the Middle East last week, Arafat arranged a trip to London. On Western soil, he made a strong and unequivocal statement in support of the West.

Blair responded in kind with backing for a “viable” Palestinian state, a word that to the Palestinians means taking possession of additional and connected land, rather than the islands that now make up their territory.

Bush told reporters Oct. 2 that he supports the idea of an independent state for Palestinians but that there must first be an end to violence in the region.

In Slovakia, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said his government supports the creation of a Palestinian state but that the Palestinians had rejected the offer made at talks last year.

“I think President Bush and Prime Minister Blair have to convince Mr. Arafat,” Peres told a news conference in Bratislava, the Slovakian capital. “We offered him a Palestinian state and most of the land, and we can hardly understand why he rejected this.”