Holt criticizes Arafat's role in peace talks

New Jersey Democratic Congressman Rush Holt criticized the actions of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as being damaging to the Middle East peace process during a speech to a crowd of about 20 in McCosh 46 last night.

"I must express concern about Arafat's unresponsiveness to the tremendous proposal put forth by [Israeli] Prime Minister [Ehud] Barak at Camp David," said Holt, who is seeking reelection in New Jersey's 12th District. "He essentially walked away, and it was all the President could do to try to keep him from walking out of the compound."

The congressman was invited to speak by the Princeton Israel Public Affairs Committee. His opponent in the 12th District race, former Republican Congressman Dick Zimmer, spoke on the same topic at Princeton last week.

The two political rivals both denounced Arafat's refusal to call publicly for a stop to the violence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian protestors and his unwillingness to participate in talks.

Holt — who traveled to Israel with a group of congressmen 12 weeks ago — tried to demonstrate his interest in the region.

He described Barak's proposal for peace as being meticulous and articulated his own surprise at Arafat's attempt to walk out.

"It appeared that he had thought of every technicality but he didn't think that Arafat would walk out the way he did," Holt said of Barak.

Holt also criticized Arafat's inability to stop the violence of Palestinian protesters.

"I want to express profound disappointment and frustration with the inability or unwillingness of Yasser Arafat to control the violent reaction of the activities that took place," he said.

But despite the unwillingness of Arafat to participate in peace talks, Holt said he would not support any actions taken to secure peace that were not supported by both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

And Holt did not categorically support Israeli action during the conflicts. Though he praised Barak's efforts to promote peace, Holt said Israel did not ensure that benefits from its recent economic growth could be shared by the Palestinians.

"It really was structured in a trickle-down way, rather than the way it should have been structured to benefit the Palestinians," Holt said of the growth.