WEST BANK: YASSER ARAFAT'S REACTION TO MADELEINE ALBRIGHT'S VISIT

(13 Sep 1997) Arabic/Eng/Nat Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says Israel and the Palestinians are headed for 'war and confusion' if Middle East peace talks remain suspended. On Friday, Arafat contradicted U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright by saying he was already doing everything possible to fight terrorism. During her trip to the region, Albright told the Palestinian leader that he must wage an unrelenting war on Islamic militants. Yasser Arafat arrived in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday for the weekly meeting of the Palestinian cabinet. But despite the diplomatic efforts of the U-S Secretary of State, the prospects of peace between his cabinet and the Israelis looked dim. It had been a frustrating three-day trip to the region for Madeleine Albright. On Friday she admitted her attempts at direct mediation had failed, saying she would only return to the region once both leaders were ready to make tough decisions. Palestinian cabinet ministers, however, had not ruled out a peaceful end to the tension in the Middle East. SOUNDBITE: (English) "There are suggestions for some future contacts. If these future contacts take place and result in something concrete, that will be good, we hope so, we don't this process to go to apocalypse, to the end of the world." SUPER CAPTION: Nabil Sha'at, Minister of Planning The Palestinian leader accuses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of starving the Palestinians by enforcing a tight closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and withholding millions of dollars in tax revenues. Israel took the measures after Islamic militants from the Hamas group carried out suicide bombings on July 30th and September 4th. After the cabinet meeting, Arafat said Albright had said nothing new, but added that the Palestinians were committed to peace. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) She didn't bring any new ideas. But the most important thing is that we are looking in a positive way at the views that have been expressed by Madeleine Albright and the American administration, in this situation specifically, and the most important is her concern about the peace process agreement and the Oslo agreement and peace in the Middle East region as a whole, and also her refusal for any unilateral work which might effect the peace process." SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Leader In her discussions with Netanyahu and Arafat, Albright concentrated on Israel's need for security, but also urged Netanyahu to keep withdrawing from West Bank land as was agreed in 1995 peace accords. Next followed talks in Damascus with Syrian President Hafez Assad. Now she is in Egypt for talks with President Hosni Mubarak. Arafat has said progress towards peace negotiations is needed by all sides if future generations were to live in safety. 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...