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July 30, 1999/17 Av 5759, Vol. 51, No.43
Arafat rejects linking Wye deal with status talks
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Yasser Arafat has rejected a plan by Prime Minister Ehud Barak to link implementation of portions of the Wye agreement with the start of final-status talks. The Palestinian Authority chairman conveyed his opposition to the plan during a telephone conversation Wednes- day, July 28, with President Clinton, according to an Arafat spokesman.
The night before, during a meeting with Barak at the Erez Crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, Arafat agreed to take two weeks to review the Israeli premier's plan. It now appears that this waiting period will be a mere formality before Arafat officially notifies Barak of the rejection. In the meantime, both sides are expected to attempt to summon international support for their respective positions.
Barak also conferred with Clinton by telephone on Wednesday to review his positions. He has repeatedly stressed that Israel would not change the U.S.-brokered land-for-security deal without Arafat's approval. "We intend to uphold the Wye accord," Barak said Tuesday. "It is a signed agreement by the government of Israel."
A day later, Cabinet member Haim Ramon said Israel would begin carrying out the second Israeli withdrawal from portions of the West Bank that is called for in the Wye accord by late August or early September.
It is the third withdrawal that is problematic for Barak, who has said it could leave Jewish settlements isolated within areas under Palestinian control. He prefers moving directly into the final-status talks, when such issues as the settlements and the borders of the Palestinian entity would be resolved.
Arafat, fearing that he has few chips to bargain with in the final-status talks, prefers to have the Wye withdrawals take place first.
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