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Negotiators move slowly toward redeployment deal
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grown too soft on the Palestinians - at least in the view of some of his ministers.
Hard-line members of the Israeli Cabinet are worried that Netanyahu is moving toward closing a deal with the Palestinian Authority that will transfer more West Bank land to Palestinian control despite recent terror attacks. At the Aug. 30 weekly Cabinet meeting, a debate raged over how to respond to last week's terrorist bombing in Tel Aviv and to the recent murders of three Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Ariel Sharon, the hard-line infrastructure minister, called for imposing a closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"It is unacceptable that 100,000 Palestinians will continue working in Israel after such acts. Israelis are murdered, and the Palestinian Authority goes on with business as usual. This must be stopped," said Sharon.
In the past, the bombing and murders would likely have prompted Netanyahu to suspend the negotiations. But on Aug. 30, Netanyahu responded to the ministers' complaints with some unusually positive words about the self-rule government. Contrary to the situation in the past, he said, there is now no evidence of cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas militants. Arafat himself could not have hoped for kinder words.
In view of recent Israeli-Palestinian tensions - provoked in no small measure by the nearly 18-month stalemate in the negotiations - Israeli political observers interpreted Netanyahu's comments as an attempt to keep the talks afloat. Without doubt, the premier could have found ample reason to take a different stance.
In early August, two settlers - Harel Ben-Nun, 18, and Shlomo Liebman, 24 - were shot dead while on a nighttime security patrol of Yizhar, a settlement of some 55 families near the West Bank town of Nablus. Two weeks later, on Aug. 20, Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan was stabbed to death in his trailer home in Hebron by a suspected Palestinian intruder. And on Aug. 27, a bomb exploded on a busy street during Tel Aviv's morning rush hour. The attack left 21 people injured.
Just the same, the recently resumed negotiations on a further Israeli redeployment from the West Bank continue - although at a sluggish pace. By most indications, there has been little progress. Netanyahu's special envoy to the talks, Yitzhak Molcho, has met several times in recent days with Palestinian officials, including Arafat. Several obstacles were removed, but gaps still remain.
Following his meeting with Molcho, Arafat sent Netanyahu a letter in which he agreed to an Israeli proposal that a portion of the lands included in a U.S.-sponsored proposal for a 13 percent redeployment in the West Bank be considered a nature preserve. This would prevent the Palestinians from launching any construction projects in the area, which comprises some 3 percent of the proposed pullback. But in his letter, Arafat rejected most of the Israeli conditions.
A major stumbling block is who will have responsibility for security in the preserve. Israel is demanding total security control. Arafat wants to share in these responsibilities.
The two sides are acting as though they have all the time in the world to complete negotiations, but according to some Israeli officials, the premier has a reason for not wanting to rush. There is a power struggle taking place in the Palestinian camp, the officials say, and Netanyahu is waiting to see who emerges victorious.
Ahmed Karia, the speaker of the Palestinian legislative council who recently held talks with Molcho, is pushing for a moderate line. Meanwhile, the two officials who have steered the Palestinian negotiating team in recent months - Saeb Erekat and Arafat's second-in-command, Mahmoud Abbas - feel that they are being co-opted by Karia and are calling on Arafat to take a tougher line toward Israel.
The Israeli officials say this has given Netanyahu reason to take a wait-and-see stance.
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