In spite of the terror, Peres stands by his man

Despite Bush speech, Peres sees Arafat as partner for peace
June 28, 2002
By Reuters, LONDON

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Thursday he could still work with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, days after U.S. President George W. Bush urged Palestinians to dump their longtime leader.

In an interview with the BBC's Newsnight program to be screened in Britain on Thursday, Peres said he could still work with Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority if he was prepared to adopt sweeping reforms. "If he would do it, yes," he said. "It is not an abstract question. If Arafat would reform, the whole thing would lose its urgency." Arafat has called elections for January and plans to run again despite Bush's call for him to be removed.

Peres said the Palestinians could not escape the need for reform. They had a clear choice -- either stop the terror or accept the cost. "If you make peace, nobody would be talking about democracy but if you don't make peace, then we cannot stop fire unless there is one chain of command for the whole forces. "It is not just an exercise in order to obtain democracy, it is a democratic exercise in order to obtain peace."

Peres said reform was needed not to satisfy the United States or Israel, but to satisfy the Palestinians. "They cannot go on like this. They are the only group of people in the whole world that is dealing with three or four armed groups, each of them shooting in a different direction.

"I talked with Arafat about it a long time ago, I told him 'look, you too have different views in your own cabinet'. He said 'yes we have different views but one rifle. You may have one view but 10 rifles'."