President Moshe Katsav announced his willingness to accept a proposal to address the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah, where he would call for a long-term armistice between Israel and the Palestinians. PA Chairman Yasser Arafat has agreed as well to the suggestion, which has been promoted by former MK Abdel Wahab Darawshe.

"If there is anything I could do to help the peace process, and to bring about a cease-fire, I would go to the ends of the earth," Katsav said, acknowledging the proposal. Even so, Katsav is waiting to hear the opinion of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the government before he makes a final decision.

Darawshe, who served in the Knesset between 1984-

"To bring about a cease-fire, I would go to the ends of the earth" - President Moshe Katsav

1999 representing the Democratic Arab Party, has been lobbying for Katsav's Ramallah speech with two other unnamed Israelis. Darawshe first raised the idea in a letter to Katsav two months ago, ynet reported. He proposed the idea to Arafat several weeks ago, and raised the subject again during a meeting with Katsav over the weekend. Darawshe also reportedly lobbied for Egyptian support of the plan when he met with officials of President Hosni Mubarak's administration in Cairo recently.

According to Darawshe's proposal, Katsav's address would focus on the innocent victims of the ongoing violence on both sides. Katsav would then call for a one-year moratorium in hostilities, known in Arabic as a "hudna." The term refers to a traditional Muslim cease-fire, defined in time and scope.

After Katsav's speech, the Palestinian council would be called upon to ratify the content of the address, with a proviso that the two sides enter negotiations with the possibility of extending the agreement.

According to ynet, an additional letter suggesting the Katsav address in Ramallah was sent to the Prime Minister's Office, but sources there stated that Darawshe had not spoken to them about the idea.

Sources in the Foreign Ministry said that they were surprised that Katsav "would naively be taken in by a PA publicity stunt." According to the sources, the speech would give legitimization to Arafat in clear defiance of Israel's decision to regard him as "irrelevant."

Another Foreign Minister official saw positive aspects in the proposal, and equated it to the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's address to the Knesset, which was followed by an Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement.

Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres said in response to the proposal that he "did not support opening additional channels to the Palestinians."

"Hudna" suggestion has been raised before
The possibility of Israel and the Palestinians declaring a "hudna" cease-fire agreement has been raised in the past. In the summer, reports surfaced about an ongoing forum of Jewish and Muslim clerics holding back channel talks promoting Middle East peace. The main aim of the talks, according to Peace Now, was "to issue a joint call for an end to violence based on the Muslim principle of 'hudna' (armistice) and 'to find a modus vivendi.'"

""To issue a religious statement like a 'hudna,' having important Muslim religious leaders come out for example against suicide bombing as a way to reach heaven, is very important," said Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Melchior at the time.

But the suggestion of a "hudna" has also had negative connotations. Last year in an interview on Palestinian television, Knesset Member Malik Dehamshe (United Arab List) referred to Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects by saying, "We exaggerate when we say 'peace'... what we are [really] speaking about is 'hudna'". Commentators took his words to show that any possible long-term peace agreement with the Palestinians could only be defined, at best, as a temporary cease-fire.

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