Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has extended an olive branch to Israel as his parliament met to vote on a new cabinet considered crucial to reviving US-backed peace moves.
Arafat, who has been shunned by Israel, reaffirmed the Jewish state's right to live in security alongside a future Palestinian state and called for an end to the spiral of Middle East fighting.
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"We do not deny the right of the Israeli people to live in security side-by-side with the Palestinian people that is also living in their own independent state," Arafat told lawmakers convened in the West Bank city of Ramallah today.
In his address, Arafat accused Israel of waging a "criminal war" against a three-year-old Palestinian uprising and of threatening his life.
The Israeli government has pledged to "remove" the 74-year-old former guerrilla leader but has not said how or when it might take action. With US backing, Israel has tried to sideline Arafat, accusing him of fomenting violence, an allegation he denies.
"The time has come for us to get out of this spiral, this destructive war, that will not bring security to you or us," Arafat said before Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie was due to call on parliament to approve the new government.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has offered to hold talks with Qurie aimed a reviving implementation of a US-backed peace.