Plo: Israel Hatching ‘Trick’ Palestinian Negotiator Resigns Over Israel Withdrawal Plans

The senior Palestinian peace negotiator resigned in anger Monday, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat accused Israel of hatching “a trick and a conspiracy against the peace process” that had plunged it into deep crisis.

U.S. diplomats struggled to bring the sides together, but peace talks remained stymied by Israel’s recent decisions to pull back troops from 9 percent of the West Bank, not the 30 percent Palestinians demanded, and to build 6,500 new units of Jewish housing in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left on a three-day official visit to Russia, Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization was rejecting the Israeli withdrawal as insufficient and threatening to suspend Israeli-PLO talks on a permanent arrangement set to resume next week.

Israeli officials saw the Palestinian moves as high-stakes maneuvering to extract more concessions from the Jewish state. An unruffled Netanyahu said Palestinians and the Arab world now fully understands that his government intends to defend Israeli interests.

The mounting rhetoric raised tensions and spread gloom on both sides.

Although Arafat, president of the self-rule Palestinian Authority, had ordered his forces not to confront Israel with violence, tempers flared and clashes erupted Monday near the West Bank town of Hebron.

Witnesses said 150 Israeli soldiers used clubs and guns to quell unrest by about 100 Palestinians who tried to stop workers from opening a road for Jewish settlers in the first serious outbreak of violence since Israel announced its redeployment last Friday.

Arafat’s deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, the chief Palestinian negotiator, handed Arafat his resignation Monday in protest of the Israeli decision.

Abbas, known also as Abu Mazen, indicated it was impossible to continue talks after meeting Sunday with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy and failing to persuade Levy that the extent of the withdrawals should be negotiated.

Palestinian and U.S. officials said they hoped Arafat would refuse the resignation of Abu Mazen and other top PLO negotiators threatening to quit the talks. Israeli officials indicated the Jewish state could not go ahead with the 9 percent pullback as long as the Palestinians rejected it.

The head of the elected Palestinian Legislative Council, Abu Alla, has called for a suspension of the negotiations and an international examination of further implementation of the 1993 and 1995 Israel-PLO accords. But arbitration would require the agreement of both sides.