January 2003, a spokesman announced.Chief Negotiator Saeb Erakat said that elections for the office of president and the legislative council will be organized "between January 10 and 20" with an exact date to be announced later.
He also suggested that Arafat will run again for office, despite calls from United States President George W. Bush for a "new Palestinian leadership" to lead an eventual Palestinian state.
"President Arafat was democratically elected by the Palestinians," said Erakat, who added that it is not for outsiders to decide which person should be chosen in a democracy.
He also denied that the elections announcement was an answer to President Bush’s policy speech on Monday, June 25, that called for reforms in the Palestinian Authority.
NATION BUILDING
"The elections are President Arafat’s answer to the Palestinian people and part of an ongoing process and an important step in nation-building that will lead to a Palestinian state," Erakat said.
However he warned that Israel could either make or break the elections, which he suggested "cannot be held with tanks in every street." The announcement was issued in Jericho, the only one of eight major Palestinian cities in the West Bank still under Palestinian control, the Voice of America noted.
Israel has imposed a curfew on the seven others: Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya, Tulkarem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Hebron. Under the curfew Palestinians living in those cities, more than 600,000 people, are confined to their homes, VOA reported.
RIGHT TO DEFEND
However President Bush told reporters in Canada that Israel had the right to defend itself against terrorism. "I will continue to remind all parties that they have responsibilities," VOA quoted him as saying.
"If there is a true desire for peace they ought to work for that peace. And everybody has a right to defend themselves. There also needs to be a vision of a way forward," Bush said.
The President stressed he will be seeking support for his MIDEAST policies from colleagues during the Group of Eight Summit, held just outside of Calgary, in Canada.
However Palestinian Christians have urged the President and believers around the world in open letters and e-mail messages in recent weeks not to forget the suffering of Arab children and other vulnerable people. They say that the only way to peace is when both Israeli’s and Palestinians accept Bethlehem-born Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as their personal Savior and Lord.
