We never had planned to hijack a ship. We never thought of any war plans outside the Palestinian lands. We wished that the program had not failed and then the warriors could have achieved their goals.

The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of the war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land.

Until the June 1967 war I was completely caught up in the life of a young professor of English. Beginning in 1968 I started to think write and travel as someone who felt himself to be directly involved in the renaissance of Palestinian life and politics.

And in this respect the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a tragedy a clash between one very powerful very convincing very painful claim over this land and another no less powerful no less convincing claim.

To our Palestinian neighbours I assure you that we have a genuine intention to respect your right to live independently and in dignity. I have already said that Israel has no desire to continue to govern over you and control your fate.

It is justice and respect that I want the world to dust off and put - without delay and with tenderness - back on the head of the Palestinian child. It will be imperfect justice and respect because the injustice and disrespect have been so severe. But I believe we are right to try.

We would like to ease the life of the Palestinians. I prepared a new plan that we call a positive agenda.

I enter negotiations with Chairman Arafat the leader of the PLO the representative of the Palestinian people with the purpose to have coexistence between our two entities Israel as a Jewish state and Palestinian state entity next to us living in peace.

The Palestinian election is something that was really a turning point. It's a mandate for peace.

Arafat rejected the deal because as a dictator who had directed all his energies toward strengthening the Palestinians hatred toward Israel Arafat could not afford to make peace.