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February 14, 2003/Adar 12 5763, Vol. 55, No. 25
Real peace moves, or just politics?
LESLIE SUSSER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - After more than two years of a downward spiral in Israeli-Palestinian relations, the prospect of a new regional balance after an anticipated American war on Iraq is concentrating Israeli and Palestinian minds.
Both sides want to be ready for any new American demands after the dust settles in Baghdad. And so, after months of icy silence, Israeli and Palestinian officials have started talking again - and the upshot could be a new cease-fire.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says his aim is to create a basis for a major peace initiative later in the year. His critics, however, aren't so sure: They accuse Sharon of going through the motions to keep the international community happy and to lure the Labor Party into his coalition.
Talks have been taking place on three levels:
- Sharon himself met Ahmad Karia, the speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, to discuss renewing the peace process and what it could offer the Palestinians
- Sharon's bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, has been discussing cease-fire terms with the Palestinian Authority's interior minister, Hani Hassan, who is in charge of Palestinian security affairs
- Ohad Marani, director general of Israel's Finance Ministry, negotiated with P.A. Finance Minister Salam Fayyad the transfer of $60 million in Palestinian tax money that Israel had withheld since the intifada began in September 2000
In addtition to those cynics who say Sharon's recent flurry of moves aren't sincere and intended to attract the Labor Party to the government, others say Sharon simply recognizes that the overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will create a window of diplomatic opportunity in the region, and is signaling to the international community that he is prepared to move toward a Palestinian state as envisaged by President Bush.
But Sharon doesn't want to be rushed. Therefore, he recently set up a team under dovish Likud Party legislator Dan Meridor to coordinate future moves with the United States, pre-empting pressure on Israel from the international community, especially the European Union.
Sharon also invited Fayyad to his farm, where he outlined reforms the Palestinian Authority must make before serious peace talks can resume.
Sharon's main demand is that P.A. President Yasser Arafat be stripped of his executive powers and pushed into a ceremonial role, with real power transferred to a prime minister.
Fayyad is a leading candidate for the job - and would probably be the first choice of Israel and the United States.
With Fayyad as prime minister, Israeli and American officials believe Bush's two-state vision could become a reality.
Most pressing, however, is a cease-fire, without which nothing will go forward. In talks with Hassan, Israeli officials are reviving the idea of a "rolling" cease-fire that would begin in a limited geographic area and, if it holds there, would spread until it encompasses the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The trouble is that similar ideas have been tried before and failed.
Hassan suggests that things will be different this time. Speaking in Nablus last weekend, he said he soon would present a detailed Palestinian proposal for a cease-fire beginning in Ramallah.
This time, Hassan says, a cease-fire would be respected by all parts of Arafat's Fatah movement, including Al-Aksa Brigade terrorists who have carried out dozens of bombings and other attacks against Israel.
Labor Party leaders say they don't believe Sharon has any real intention of moving toward peace. In a recent meeting with Amram Mitzna, they note, Sharon lectured the Labor chairman on the importance of Netzarim and Kfar Darom, two Gaza Strip settlements that Mitzna says should be evacuated.
Leslie Susser is the diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Report.
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