President Arafat : The most important thing we need is to live in peace,
together side by side, with the Israelis.
08/02/2003 [Offical PA website]
http://www.pna.gov.ps/details.asp?subject_id=381

[IMRA: If there was a doubt that Arafat is not serious about peace, the
following item shows the same old Arafat. President Bush's Republican Party
does not have a militia nor does Bush not send suicide bombers to Toronto.
It is also noteworthy that instead of denying he has billions of dollars
overseas, Arafat replies that he isn't drawing a salary today.]

In an exclusive 10-minute interview with CNN's Michael Holmes with president
Yasser Arafat , president Arafat declared that "the most important
thing we need is to live in peace, together side by side, with the
Israelis."

and he added : "This is terra santa, the holy land. The peace here is very
important, not only for the Palestinians but for the whole world."

commenting on other issues as

The Palestinian Elections :

In what was supposed to be the first election day for Palestinians in seven
years, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that he is actively pursuing
new politicians within his Fatah party to take over his post.

"I am pushing them, and I am proud that our movement, our party Fatah, has a
very big amount of people and members, and we are very proud of them," he
said

The first and only Palestinian Authority elections took place in January
1996. The Palestinian Authority was scheduled to hold elections in May 1999,
according to the Oslo agreement, but the postponement of peace talks delayed
the vote. The Palestinian Authority then set a date for January 20, 2003,
which also has been put off indefinitely.

president Arafat said he welcomed opposition candidates, pointing out that
he was not the only candidate in the last elections.

"There was another candidate -- she's a famous lady, and she took more than
10 percent; I have 87 percent," he said, referring to the late Sameeha
Khalil, the leader of a charitable organization.

Q : "You're planning to be around for a while longer though?" Holmes
asked.

A :"This is according to God and to the wishes of our voters," president
Arafat said.

president Arafat has been under pressure for some time to reform the
Palestinian Authority or to step aside. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
refuses to resume peace negotiations with the Palestinians until Arafat is
replaced. In June, President Bush -- without mentioning Arafat by name --
said the United States would support the creation of an independent
Palestinian state if the Palestinian people "elect new leaders, leaders not
compromised by terror."

president Arafat on Monday blamed Israel for the postponement of elections,
saying its forces "have to withdraw" from the Palestinian territories.

A: "How this can be accepted internationally?" he said. "We were ready, and
everything had been declared, and we had informed the [Madrid] 'quartet'
[Russia, United Nations, United States and the European Union], we had
informed all the Arab countries, we had informed the United Nations, we had
even ... asked from many of these countries to send, as they had done in the
previous elections, observers."

Israeli troops have intermittently occupied various cities and territories
in the West Bank and Gaza since the latest Palestinian intifada, or
uprising, began in September 2000. Israel said the measures are necessary to
prevent further attacks, and it claims the crackdown has prevented dozens of
potential suicide bombers from getting into Israel.

Arafat dismissed that argument.

A: Oh, suicide bombers? Does this, the suicide bombers in America ... delay
your democracy also and your election in America?" he said. "You know that
we are against it. Everyone knows that we are against it, and we had
declared that, and we take many steps, and recently we had arrested some of
them."

Arafat's Fatah movement is the mainstream faction of the Palestine
Liberation Organization and is dedicated to the formation of an independent
Palestinian state.

president Arafat said he would like to hold an election as soon as possible,
saying all that was needed was at least one month for preparation and the
withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Addressing reports that he has taken millions of dollars in aid money,
Arafat denied the corruption charges.

"They are saying I have billions of dollars in many banks everywhere. For
your information, I am proud that I am not taking salaries, not from the
PLO, not from the PA [Palestinian Authority] -- I refused," he said.