Ministerial Cabinet Meeting in Ramallah

28^th April, 2000

Chairing the Ministerial Cabinet weekly meeting President Arafat affirmed the Palestinian Leadership’s commitment to carry out the third phase of Redeployment according to the signed agreements; and it renewed its refusal to postponing any of the Final Status issues.

H.E. expressed his gratitude to French President Mr. Jacques Chirac, and French Prime Minister Mr. Lionel Jospin, for their firm and public position regarding the danger represented by the pursuit of settlement activities, besides the need to implement the signed agreements on time.

During his visit to Portugal, President Arafat discussed the obstacles facing the peace process with the Portuguese Prime Minister, and asked the European Union to play an active role in the current negotiations to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Regarding the resumption of the third phase of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, President Arafat expressed his hope that the American participation would help in getting over the chronic stalemate in the peace process and make the Israeli delegation’s role more serious and authorized.

The leadership also discussed a number of political and national issues, and issued the following positions:

King Abdullah’s visit:

During King Abdullah’s visit to Palestine President Arafat held bilateral political talks with the Jordanian delegation, in which His Majesty confirmed his full support to the establishment of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Conference of the Palestinian Refugees at UNESCO

President Arafat participated in the conference of the Palestinian refugees in Paris, which received a solidarity letter from Kofi Anan and where the participants affirmed the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homeland on the bases of UN resolution (194). The Palestinian leadership considers the question of refugees a priority, and such conferences shall have a great role in the prioritization of the matter.

No bargaining on Holy Jerusalem

The Palestinian Leadership affirmed that all the UN resolutions rejected and condemned the Israeli attempts to annex Jerusalem, and also asserted that it will not abandon the holy city, given its religious significance to all Muslim and Christian Arabs. It reaffirmed that Jerusalem is a Palestinian territory and that Israel must withdraw from all the Palestinian territories according to UN resolutions 242 and 338.

Establishing settlements:

The establishment of settlements has not yet ceased. In spite of the Israeli promises to remove these settlements, acknowledging they are not legal, they are expanding these settlements. Many houses have been demolished to build settlements in Al Issawiya and in Sheikh Jarrah in Holy Jerusalem. There are settlement attempts to set Bethlehem apart from Jerusalem and Hebron, which would jeopardize the peace process as a whole.

Easter Greetings:

The Palestinian Leadership congratulates the Palestinian Christians on the occasion of Easter, wishing to celebrate the coming Easter in our independent state.

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon:

The Palestinian leadership refuses all the resettlement schemes and it affirms that the Palestinian refugees presence in Lebanon is temporary. It hopes that the Lebanese government will enable the refugees to enjoy normal lives on the basis of Palestinian-Lebanese brotherhood.

Control and searching Committee in Ministry of Industry:

The Ministry of Industry formed The Control and Searching Committee in order to improve and rehabilitate national industry, Consumer control and environment. This committee will control all the industrial constructions and guarantee required and suitable circumstances for production.

Presidential decision to raise detainees salaries

President Arafat decided to raise the salaries of Holy Jerusalem detainees as of the beginning of May. The leadership stresses that the question of detainees is one of its priorities.

Greeting to the national conference of popular organizations

Yesterday, in Ramallah, President Arafat and members of the PLO Executive committee attended the national conference of popular organizations. The conference adopted important resolutions and recommendations to reinforce national unity and democratic life. The Palestinian leadership greets the conference members, who in their positions and resolutions symbolize unity and cohesion.