Arafat Demands That Israel Relinquish West Bank Territory In Washington, Plo Leader Refers To U.S.-Brokered Peace Agreements

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, arriving here for talks with President Clinton, demanded Wednesday that Israel abide by its agreement to cede West Bank land to the Palestinians.

“I’m not asking for the moon; I am asking for what was signed at the White House,” Arafat said, referring to 1993 and 1995 peace agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, Arafat was Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s guest for a late evening meal Wednesday. He is scheduled to see Clinton today.

In Arabic, Arafat said his working 90-minute dinner with Albright was held in a very constructive atmosphere and that he expected any U.S. ideas to break the stalemate with Israel would be offered today.

Albright then went with Netanyahu to Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland to see the Israeli leader off.

Netanyahu, during his meetings Tuesday with Clinton, proposed only a modest withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank. He made clear Wednesday that Israel would not put its own security at risk by ceding land. “We’ll not ever be pressured into jeopardizing our security,” he said.

Clinton characterized his meeting with the Israeli leader as productive.

“We worked with Mr. Netanyahu yesterday, exhaustively, to try to, you know, narrow the differences, and we didn’t get them all eliminated, but we made some headway,” Clinton said in an interview on PBS’ “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” “And we’re going to work with Mr. Arafat tomorrow to try to do that. And then we’re going to try to see if there’s some way we can put them together. … It’s not good for them to keep on fooling with this and not making progress.”

Arafat said he expected Israel to implement “accurately and honestly” its commitments under the agreements he signed at the White House with Netanyahu’s predecessor, the late Yitzhak Rabin.

State Department officials said Albright would ask Arafat to boost anti-terrorism measures, as was agreed to. “He needs to understand the linkage between any movement forward by the Israelis and the question of security,” State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters.

Netanyahu, saying he remains committed to the peace process, nonetheless declared that his government is unwilling to ever give up large chunks of the West Bank, which he said has protected Israel’s eastern border from Arab aggression since the 1967 war.

“If you ask us to withdraw from that wall, we know the whole peace process would collapse because Israel would revert again to a narrow band along the Mediterranean that will invite aggression and future conflict,” Netanyahu said in speech.

Clinton is promoting a plan that would have Israel cede smaller portions of land in phases as Palestinians, in turn, agree to Israel demands for concrete measures against terrorism, including turning over murder suspects.