THE Palestine Authority President has, for several reasons, chosen Rabat in Morocco rather than Gaza for today's meeting with the US envoy, Mr Dennis Ross, writes Michael Jansen.
First, having called for an emergency meeting of the Jerusalem Committee of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, headed by Morocco's King Hassan, Mr Vasser Arafat could not easily absent himself from the 15 government gathering. The Palestinian leader expects the committee to condemn Israel's construction of a new settlement on the outskirts of Jerusalem as a violation of the Oslo accords and put pressure on Arab and Islamic governments to freeze relations with the Jewish state.
Second, by meeting the US envoy in the context of this conference, he would like to put Mr Rossat a distinct diplomatic disadvantage. For Mr Arafat will surrounded by influential Arab and Islamic personalities who would exert pressure on the US to use its influence to compel Israel to postpone the construction until the status of Jerusalem has been determined by negotiation.
And by extracting the encounter from the emotionally heated Palestinian pressure cooker of Gaza, he should have more freedom of decision making than in Gaza where he would face the conflicting demands of ministers and constituents.
But even in Rabat the meeting should pose serious difficulties for the Palestinian leader because members of his cabinet and leaders of his Fatah movement have rejected the US demand that Mr Arafat should crush militants and curb violence while the US does not demand that Israel should defer settlement construction and honour the accords it signed.
Mr Ross is due to travel to Jerusalem for talks later today with the Israeli Prime Minister. If he should fail to appease the two sides, there could be a major eruption of violence on Sunday as Palestinians commemorate the 21st anniversary of "Land Day" when six Palestinian citizens of Israel protesting against confiscations were killed by Israeli troops. Fatah has reconsecrated the occasion "Palestine Day" and called for mass protests against Israeli expropriation policies under the slogan, "Settlements are terror".