Arafat, PM were close to a deal, new book claims

Like many in Israel waiting for a sample of the election results on the evening of February 6, 2001, Muhammad Rasheed, the economic adviser to Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat, sat with attorney Dov Weisglass and Omri Sharon, watching television in the lawyer's Tel Aviv office.

Once the results were made public, Rasheed called Arafat and informed him: "As I told you, he [Sharon] won big." Rasheed then began testing the possibility of setting up a meeting between Arafat and Sharon, the prime minister-elect - who did not refuse.

Sharon and Arafat were close to reaching a deal for an end to the violent confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians, immediately after Sharon came to power in the winter of 2001. The deal fell through mostly because Arafat backed off from the deal at the last minute.

The story is told in a new book on the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation - "The Seventh War," authored by Haaretz journalist Amos Harel and Avi Isascharov, released yesterday.

The initial contact between the two sides was made by Weisglass, who was appointed as director of the Prime Minister's Office two years ago. At the time, Weisglass represented an Austrian firm that was part owner with the Palestinian Authority in a casino in Jericho.

In the weeks prior to the elections, Rasheed, a part owner in the casino, told Weisglass and Arafat that Sharon is the only Israeli leader with sufficient power to make a deal with the Palestinians.

At the end of February, even before the new government was sworn in, a secret document of understandings between the two sides was completed.

A senior Palestinian official says that "everything was completed and ready, in detail, especially the meeting at the Erez crossing [between Arafat and Sharon]." But the source says that Arafat backed away from the meeting.