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August 6, 1999/24 Av 5759, Vol. 51, No.44
Barak warns talks will end if Palestinians don't stop terrorism
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Israeli-Palestinian negotiations may be suspended entirely if the Palestinian Authority does not clamp down on terrorism, Prime Minister Ehud Barak has warned.
The warning, issued after two settlers were wounded Tuesday, Aug. 3, in the West Bank town of Hebron, came at a time when Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking efforts had already been complicated by publicly aired squabbles over when and how the Wye agreement's land-for-security deal should be implemented.
Reacting to the first attack on Israeli civilians since he took office, Barak on Aug. 4 called on the Palestinian Authority to apprehend the perpetrators of the shooting attack in the often volatile West Bank town. Israel's "security forces will wage a fight to the finish against terrorism," Barak said. "The war against terrorism takes precedence over everything else."
The Palestinian Authority condemned the incident, in which unknown gunmen opened fire on the settlers as they were driving near the Tomb of the Patriarchs. They were identified as Ephraim Rosenstein and Baruch Ben-Ya'acov, who was wounded in the shoulder. Rosenstein, who lost two fingers in the attack, called on Barak to do something, "more than just words."
Days before the incident, Israeli and Palestinian leaders began publicly criticizing one another after peace talks ended in disagreement Sunday, Aug. 1, with no new date set for them to reconvene. On Aug. 2, Barak criticized the Palestinians' "rigid" rejection of his proposal to delay a troop withdrawal Israel promised under the Wye accord and link it to a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said Barak's proposal is "an attempt to avoid the accurate and honest implementation of what has been agreed upon."
Barak has repeatedly stressed that Israel would not change the U.S.-brokered land-for-security deal without Arafat's approval. He indicated on Aug. 1 that he would be willing to carry out the second of three Israeli withdrawals from portions of the West Bank by October. The third withdrawal would be carried out by February, by which time the two sides would have launched the final-status talks. But Palestinian officials are rejecting the plan, saying they want the second withdrawal to take place within three weeks, and the third far sooner than February.
The first Israeli withdrawal agreed to under last October's Wye accord was carried out last November. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then suspended the agreement, charging that the Palestinian Authority was not living up to its part of the deal. It is the third withdrawal that is the major problem for Barak, who has said it could leave Jewish settlements isolated within areas under Palestinian control.
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