Arafat: I accept Israel's Jewish character

[Gimel]

Yasser Arafat "definitely" understands that Israel must preserve its character as a Jewish state, the Palestinian Authority chairman told Haaretz in an interview this week.

This is the first time Arafat has said he recognizes the state's Jewish character - he had previously refrained from doing so, to avoid offending Israel's Arab citizens.

In the interview at his office in Ramallah on Tuesday, Arafat pointed out that the PLO had adopted the Arab Summit resolution of April 2002. This resolution, based on a Saudi initiative, called for a just and agreed solution to the Palestinian refugee problem based on UN General Assembly Resolution 194.

However, he declined to say how many refugees he would insist Israel absorb as a condition for any peace agreement. He stressed that he had to solve the problem of some 200,000 refugees who live in very difficult conditions in Lebanon, and asked "why the Christians from Russia have the right to come and the Palestinian Christian has not the right to come?"

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Can I believe my eyes? Is Arafat actually making some concessions?

[Djinn]

1. right

so Arafat is not worth listening to and has no credibilty - until he says something you like the sound of.

pffftt.

[Gimel]

2. It is not

the person who received the Nobel Prize for Peace? It is the terrorist leader of a terrorist entity?

PFFT to one who notes a positive trend?