Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 14, 1993 TAG: 9311140067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: JERUSALEM LENGTH: Medium
Arafat's statement, issued by the Palestinian news agency Wafa in Tunis, was the first time the PLO leader has ever condemned the killing of an Israeli by a Palestinian nationalist, and came in response to demands Friday from Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and President Clinton.
"We are distressed by and condemn the killing of the Israeli settler [Haim] Mizrahi. This individual operation was carried out without the knowledge of the leadership," Arafat said, according to Reuter news agency reports from Tunis. "We demand that everyone comply with what was agreed on and stop violent acts to safeguard the peace process."
In responding to Rabin's appeal, Arafat averted a possible crisis in the negotiations between Israel and the PLO on the Sept. 13 accord, which granted Palestinians control in the Gaza Strip and Jericho and later in most of the West Bank.
Under growing domestic pressure because of a string of violent attacks against Israelis, Rabin had stated repeatedly that they were being carried out by Islamic militants, and not Arafat's Fatah faction of the PLO, which had pledged to curtail violence.
But Friday, the Israeli army announced that five suspects arrested for the Oct. 29 abduction and killing of Mizrahi had said under interrogation that they belonged to Fatah. The five suspects said they carried out the attack on their own, according to the army. At the time of the incident, the Islamic group Hamas was believed to have been responsible.
The army's announcement immediately triggered a wave of criticism from Israeli hard-liners opposed to the accord with the PLO.
by CNB