The New York Times · New York, New York · 28 April 1999

CP-1999-021

Palestinians Seem Resigned to a Delay in Statehood

By DEBORAH SONTAG

Scan 804 × 1176 pixels

Transcribed from the clipping

GAZA, April 27 — Several miles from the seaside compound where Palestinian leaders locked themselves away today to deliberate the timing of a declaration of statehood, Motee and Ali Anan sat shrugging amid porcelain toilets in their luxury-bathroom store on the main boulevard in town.

The Anans, uncle and nephew, are not hanging on the outcome of the meeting of the 120-member Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization. They are barely curious; few people here seem to care. It seems clear to them that under international pressure, the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat has already decided to delay the declaration he once promised for May 4.

“Today is only a show,” Ali Anan said, gazing at a $1,000 toilet, sink and bidet set. “It is theater, and we don’t have to wait for the curtain to come down to know how it will end.” If the meeting was theater, it seemed to be a rehearsal of a democratic process, with the Palestinian leaders reportedly engaging in fiery debate.

But despite guest appearances by such opponents as Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the Islamic fundamentalist, Mr. Arafat seemed to be guiding the council members toward a scripted conclusion: a statehood declaration must be postponed, and negotiations with the Israelis continued.

“We are going through a very delicate period in the history of our people, a period during which we cannot afford to make any mistakes,” the official Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted Mr. Arafat as saying. “We don’t need to affirm our state because we are actually exercising statehood.”

Under the terms of the Oslo peace accord, May 4 is the day when the Palestinians’ transitional government is to expire and a target date for the conclusion of final peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

How this transcription was made

Read from the scan by a machine looking at the image of the page, not by optical character recognition and not by a person. The printed date on the page agrees with the date recorded here.

Cite this clipping

More from The New York Times

• The Maine Colony in PalestineThe New York Times · 12 November 1866
• Jewish Colonization in PalestineThe New York Times · 9 December 1883
• Jewish State in Palestine OpposedThe New York Times · 9 July 1897
• ZIONIST CONGRESS IN BASELThe New York Times · 31 August 1897
• ROME FEARS THE ZIONISTSThe New York Times · 12 September 1897
• PROGRESS OF ZIONISMThe New York Times · 16 December 1901
• 852 more from this paper in the full text →

More from the 1990s

• The One-State SolutionThe New York Times · 10 January 1999
• How Jews Turn Houses Into Homes on West BankThe New York Times · 17 March 1999
• Israeli Arabs face uphill battle for equal statusLas Cruces Sun News · 3 July 1999
• History of Palestinian-Israeli conflict can't be ignoredThe Beaufort Gazette · 16 August 1999
• Release of Palestinian prisoners tangled in years of suffering, rageThe Baltimore Sun · 4 September 1999
• Israel’s top court bans agents from torturing suspectsPress of Atlantic City · 7 September 1999
• All 374 clippings from the 1990s →