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Abie Nathan Convinced
Arafat Wants Peace
W OLF BLITZER
Special to The Jewish News
W
ashington — Israeli
peace activist Abie
Nathan has emerg-
ed from a meeting in Tunis
with Yassir Arafat encourag-
ed that the PLO chairman is
in fact very sincere in his
quest for peace with Israel.
"Absolutely," Nathan said
in an overseas telephone in-
terview from his room at the
Tunis Hilton. "I am more con-
vinced of this today than
ever."
Nathan expressed hope that
Arafat would declare public-
ly what he said privately to
him in Tunis.
"Arafat must appear before
the television cameras and
say it," Nathan said. "He
must address himself direct-
ly to the people of Israel. I told
him that that was the only
way anybody would believe
him."
The 61-year-old activist said
that he had in fact prepared
a draft speech for Arafat to
deliver. "I gave him a copy
> and explained to him how it
would benefit the PLO,"
Nathan said.
Nathan, who operates the
"Voice of Peace" radio station
off Israel's coast in the
Mediterranean, said that he
flew to Tunis on Friday, Sept.
9, after receiving word that
Arafat was prepared to meet
with him. Nathan, who tra-
vels on a British passport,
had spent several days in
Tunis last month but was
unable to meet with the PLO
leader because he was then in
Baghdad.
After waiting in his Tunis
hotel room for three days,
Nathan received a telephone
call inviting him to meet with
Arafat. He he had almost
given up on a meeting.
"I had written an angry let-
ter to Arafat," he said. "I had
already signed it just when
the call came through."
According to Nathan, the
PLO chairman is preparing to
make some dramatic new an-
nouncements in the coming
weeks, but said that Arafat,
while still in control of the
PLO, was having his own in-
ternal problems pushing
through a new strategy.
"I wouldn't want to have his
political problems," Nathan
said. "They're worse than
ours."
Nathan said that he was
not concerned about the
Israeli law barring Israeli
citizens from meeting with
the PLO. He said that that
law was designed to prevent
spying. "If the people think
that I was spying then I want
to go to prison," he said. "I
have been there before."
In 1966 Nathan flew into
Egypt to meet with Gamal
Abdel Nasser, and again on
three other occasions bettwen
1967 and 1973. After one trip,
he served 40 days in a Israeli
prison.
Nathan had met with Ara-
fat once before, in west
Beirut, during the summer of
1982, just before Arafat and
his troops were forced to leave
the Lebanese capital by the
invading Israeli army.
Nathan said that Arafat
makes a much better impres-
sion in person than he does in
the news media. He said that
Arafat actually comes across
as a reasonable, moderate
person. "We don't see the real
Arafat on television in
Israel," he said. "They won't
let us!'
Meanwhile, following ear-
lier talks in Tunis with
Arafat and other high-
ranking PLO officials, an
American Jewish peace ac-
tivist has predicted that a
Palestinian "Declaration of
Independence" will be issued
before the end of this year.
Dr. Jerome Segal of the
University of Maryland said
the PLO has established two
committees in Tunis to draft
the statement which would
lead to a "provisional govern-
ment of Palestine!'
In an interview Segal said
the declaration would cite the
1947 United Nations parti-
tion resolution which called
for an Arab and a Jewish
state in Palestine.
"Israel's Declaration of In-
dependence also cites the
resolution," Segal said, in-
sisting that the PLO saw the
Resolution as something ex-
tending "political legitimacy"
to a Palestinian state.
"It's one resolution that the
whole world has accepted,"
Segal said. But the PLO, he
added, would offer to nego-
tiate new boundaries for the
state along side Israel.
Segal said the PLO's legal
committee, chaired by Dr.
Anis Al-Qasem, and its
political committee, chaired
by Khaled Al-Hassan, were
also drafting what the PLO
has called "a new political
program."
"Nothing is yet set in con-
crete," Segal said, pointing
out that the exact date for the
next meeting of the Palestine
National Council (PNC) has
not even been firmly set.
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Jews in American Cinema
Film Festival
The Shanik-Fleischer Forum for 1988
Photo Exhibit: "Jews in American Cinema, 1898-1988"
Lobby, Michigan Theater, September 19-October 15.
Hours: Monday - Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. ;
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. - 4 p.m. ; Sunday, closed.
In addition, the exhibition will be open to theater patrons during
regular evening performances.
Film Festival: September 25-October 12
"His People" (Edward Simon, 1925)
September 19, 7 p.m.
(Silent Film with organ accompaniment)
September 25, 3 p.m. "The House of Rothschild" (Alfred Werker, 1934)
"Crossfire" (Edward Dmytryk, 1947)
September 28, 7 p.m.
"Marjorie Morningstar" (Irving Rapper, 1958)
October 2, 3 p.m
"Good-bye Columbus" (Larry Peerce, 1969)
October 6, 7 p.m.
October 10, 7 p.m. "Next Stop Greenwich Village" (Paul Mazursky, 1976)
"Annie Hall" (Woody Allen 1977)
October 12, 7 p.m.
Admission: $3.50 adults, $1.50 children and students with ID.
Michigan Theater, 603 East Liberty, Ann Arbor, 668-8480.
Sponsored by the Program in Judaic Studies of The University of
Michigan and by The Anti-Defamation League of lYnai B'rith.
For further information, call 763-9047.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
33