Putin: Russia for Palestinian Independence

M O S C O W, Aug. 11 -- Russia supports an independent Palestinian state but also believes negotiations on a peace deal with Israel should move forward, President Vladimir Putin told Palestinian leaderYasser Arafat today.

Arafat has been on a world tour seeking support for a sovereignstate following the failure of U.S.-brokered talks with IsraeliPrime Minister Ehud Barak in July. The Palestinians have said theywill declare their statehood next month, despite Israeliopposition.

Arafat wants Russia to play a more active role in the Mideastpeace process. Russia is a co-sponsor of the process, along withthe United States, but has played a minor part in recent years.

Putin said he followed the Camp David negotiations “veryclosely,” and he reiterated Moscow’s support for an independentPalestinian state. But Russian officials urged Arafat to negotiatewith Israel rather than unilaterally declare independence.

Enlisting the World

Arafat also met today with the head of Russian Orthodox Church,Patriarch Alexy II, who backed the Palestinians’ cause.

Elsewhere today, a senior Palestinian official in Barcelona, Spain, called for a stronger European role in the peace process to keep it from being dominated by the United States.

Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian Planning Minister, met with Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique. Pique was also to meet with Shlomo Ben-Ami, the Israeli public security minister who was namedacting foreign minister this week.

Arafat was scheduled to go to Norway later today. While in Oslo, he was to meet with Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres at a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

The Norwegian government said it invited Peres after it becameclear that Arafat would be in Oslo this evening after a stop in Finland. The dinner could be considered an early anniversarycelebration of the Aug. 21, 1993, Oslo agreement, which launchedthe peace process, a government spokesman said.

Arafat and Peres shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 togetherwith former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated ayear later.