A last-minute dispute over the wording of a peace settlement between Israel and the PLO was settled just in time for the documents to be signed in Washington, a Norwegian peace negotiator said.
"There were a few dramatic seconds. But now they have agreed to use the Oslo agreement," said Norwegian Foreign Ministry first secretary Jan Egeland in a Norwegian interview from Washington, D.C.The agreement had been initialed in Oslo on Aug. 20, after months of secret negotiations led by a small team of Norwegians, including Foreign Minister Johan Jorgen Holst and Egeland.
In Washington, PLO leader Yasser Arafat demanded that the wording be changed so that it referred to the Palestine Liberation Organization instead of the Palestinian delegation, Norwegian state radio, NRK, and the national news agency, NTB, reported.
NRK quoted Norwegian peace negotiator Terje Roed Larsen as saying that the Israelis refused, claiming they did not have the power to change the text, which had been accepted by the Israeli government on Friday.
The reports said talks went on through the night and that the PLO agreed to stick to the original text about one hour before the signing ceremony at the White House.