Ex-Israeli PM says Arafat deserves Nobel Prize

By: Ahmad Hammadi

TEL AVIV: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat - about whom Israeli Prime Minister Sharon has put up three options i.e. murder, besiege and exile - fully deserved to be awarded the Nobel peace prize.

Former Israeli premier Shimon Peres stated this on Monday while he was speaking at a round-table discussion that featured three other Nobel laureates here.

“I believe it was right to give (Arafat) the Nobel peace prize because he did three things that no other Palestinian leader did,” Peres said adding, “He declared publicly that he recognized the state of Israel - no other Palestinian leader dared do that so publicly. Second, he said he would abandon terrorism, and third he agreed that peace would be based on the borders of 1967 and not 1948.”

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