Arafat meets British delegation + Erekat reax

(9 Mar 2002) Ramallah, West Bank 1. Meeting between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and delegation 2. Close-up of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat 3. Arafat with British delegation of the Unison union 4. Various of meeting Jericho, West Bank 5. Set up shot of Saeb Erekat, Palestinian chief negotiator at his desk 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Saeb Erekat, Palestinian chief negotiator "What's new? That's been Sharon's position over the last 12 months. He's been saying no to political negotiations before the cease-fire. He's been negotiating the cease-fire with us - him personally, Shimon Peres, the security meeting . So what I believe Sharon is doing trying to create the balance between what President Bush wants and what his right wing coalition wants which is an impossible balance and the only thing Sharon is trying to do now is to confuse people but the only thing he is doing is exposing himself. There is nothing new in Sharon's statements and it's really ironic that ten months after saying that they have accepted Mitchell and the Tenet, he's saying that he will submit it to the approval of the cabinet. So what were the last ten months - the Israeli cabinet did not even see Tenet and Mitchell and I believe Sharon is exposing himself." Ramallah, West Bank 8. Wide shot of trucks driving past at a checkpoint at Ramallah 9. Elderly woman being lifted out of an ambulance and onto a wheelbarrow 10. Men wheeling elderly woman through checkpoint STORYLINE: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with a British workers union delegation on Saturday. The representatives of "Unison" union came to express its support of the Palestinian people after the violent events of the last few days. Meanwhile, in Jericho, Saeb Erekat, Palestinian chief negotiator reacted to Ariel Sharon's statement given Friday evening in which he referred to the seven days of cease-fire, which he demanded as a basic condition to renew the peace negotiations. Erekat commented on Sharon's statements saying that the Israeli Prime Minister's position had not changed in the last 12 months. He also referred to the two proposals for a truce and a resumption of peace talks, drafted last year by CIA chief George Tenet and by an international commission headed by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell. At the Ramallah checkpoint in the West Bank it was business as usual on Saturday as an elderly woman was forced to get out of an ambulance to cross the checkpoint. The woman was put into a wheelbarrow and helped to cross the checkpoint by two men. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...