------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 15:25:52 +0200
Subject: For moderation - Erekat Reaffirms that the Palestinian Position on Refugees is
Based on UN Resolution
194
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To: [log in to unmask]
British Journalist Apologizes for False Statement about Palestinian Refugee
Rights Attributed to Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat
Erekat Reaffirms that the Palestinian Position IS Based on UN Resolution 194
BADIL Resource Center
9 June ~1999
For Immediate Release
British journalist Alan Philps has apologized for a false statement attributed
to Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in a May 27 editorial (Arafat 'set
to demand more land from Israel', p. 21) published in the British newspaper, The
Daily Telegraph. Erekat was falsely quoted as having assured Israel that there
is no intention to claim the right of return for refugees from areas inside
Israel.
In a letter to BADIL dated the 6 June, Erekat strongly reaffirmed that the
Palestinian position regarding the refugees is based on UN Resolution 194 which
includes, first and foremost, the right of refugees to return to their homes and
lands. Erekat stated:
"What was stated [in the May 27 editorial] under my name is completely false. I
deny what was stated generally and specifically."
One day later on 7 June, The Daily Telegraph, retracted the comments attributed,
without prior verification, to Mr. Erekat. According to the retraction, "Saeb
Erekat, was quoted as having reassured Israel that he would not be demanding the
right of return for Palestinian refugees in the forthcoming negotiations with
Israel. Mr. Erekat would like to make clear that his comments, in a television
interview reported in the Israeli press, were misinterpreted. The Daily
Telegraph accepts that Mr. Erekat made no reference to the refugee issue in his
comments."
BADIL made inquiries about the May 27 editorial following commitments by the PLO
Refugee Affairs Department at a workshop organized by the activist forum of
BADIL Friends in the north of the West Bank to abstain from discussing with
Israel any details/practicalities on the refugee question, until Israel provides
recognition - principle - of the Palestinian right of return and to unify speech
concerning the right of return. The Refugee Department also extended its
support to the popular campaign for the defense of Palestinian refugee rights
which is based on the right of return.
The Daily Telegraph is owned by Hollinger, Inc., which also has media holdings
in Israel, including The Jerusalem Post. Coincidently, a second unsubstantiated
and slanderous editorial about Palestinians was published during the same period
by journalist Barbara Amiel, the wife of Conrad Black, owner of Hollinger, Inc.
In an article which appeared in the Canadian news magazine, Macleans ("Hatred,
Palestinian-Style", June 7), Amiel described Palestinians as "a population that
is trained to think of Israel as the incarnation of Satan" and stated that
"incitement to hate Jews is the backbone of Palestinian life."
For more information about the Palestinian-International Campaign for the
Defense of Refugee Rights, contact: BADIL Resource Center, PO Box 728,
Bethlehem, Palestine; tel/fax. 972-2-274-7346; email, [log in to unmask]; website,
www.badil.org.
_____________________________________________________
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