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August 16, 2002/Elul 8 5762, Vol. 54, No. 48
Mistrust hinders Mideast progress
LESLIE SUSSER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - The wheels are spinning beneath the battered chassis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the brakes are being applied by that perennial opponent of Mideast progress: mistrust.
As Israeli and Palestinian officials try to hammer out a plan to test Palestinian security guarantees, voices on each side accuse the other of tricks.
Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer's "Gaza First" plan proposes a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank to test the Palestinian Authority's willingness and ability to crack down on terror against Israel.
The Palestinian Authority approved the Ben-Eliezer proposal in principle. But leaders of the dozen or so Palestinian paramilitary organizations were highly critical of the P.A.'s decision, seeing it as a trap to legitimize Israeli occupation of Palestinian cities.
Israel was equally emphatic in its suspicion of Palestinian motives. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared at an Aug. 11 Cabinet meeting that P.A. approval of the "Gaza First" idea was "simply a ruse to please the Americans" while a Palestinian delegation was talking with Bush administration officials in Washington.
Israelis were equally skeptical of reports that Palestinian factions were once again on the verge of pledging not to attack Israeli civilians, at least inside Israel proper.
Palestinian officials had claimed they were about to issue a cease-fire in July until Israel assassinated Salah Shehada, the head of Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip, killing some 15 civilians in the process.
Palestinians staged several spectacular terrorist attacks, ostensibly in revenge for Shehada's death. But then they again considered the possibility of declaring a cease-fire - albeit one that would sanction attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israelis dismissed the talk as a public relations exercise or as diplomatic cover that would allow Palestinian fighters to regroup and prepare for future attacks.
All those questions appeared to become moot early this week, however, as the Palestinian factions dropped the cease-fire initiative and instead called for continued attacks.
Beyond the bluster, however, some Israelis detected signs that the intifada's physical, economic and diplomatic toll was exhausting the Palestinians.
The fact that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement was reaching out to other groups to consider even a partial cease-fire shows a recognition that the war against Israel has failed, and that Palestinians are searching for a way out, some Israeli analysts said.
For several weeks now, the "Supreme Intifada Monitoring Committee,'' an umbrella group of all Palestinian factions, has been working on a covenant meant to produce a joint, binding definition of Palestinian goals and the means to achieve them.
The covenant was to have been signed in mid-August, but the signing ceremony was deferred when Hamas officials asked for more time to consider their position.
Particularly galling to Hamas, which rejects Israel's right to exist, is the document's call for a Palestinian state only in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israelis, meanwhile, asked how much of this development constituted genuine change on which new peace agreements could be built?
Part of the Israeli mistrust stems from the fact that the covenant would establish a joint Palestinian decision-making body that includes all Palestinian factions, with Arafat at its head. This could simply be another way for Arafat to retain power.
Leslie Susser is the diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Report.
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