Israel States West Bank Areas Of Vital Interest List ‘Doesn’t Leave Much For Palestinians,’ U.S. Official Says As Washington Talks Loom
The Israeli government adopted sweeping guidelines Wednesday on what it would regard as vital interests in any future negotiations regarding the West Bank.
The areas included security zones to the east and west; Jerusalem and environs; Jewish settlements; military bases; roads running through the West Bank and to the settlements, as well as water, electricity, transportation and “historic sites sacred to the Jewish people.”
After long and inconclusive debate in recent weeks over alternative maps, the Cabinet drew up only general principles, saying the broad approach avoided a showdown in the Cabinet, and would give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more room to maneuver in his impending meeting with President Clinton.
Wednesday’s decision was one of a series that will shape the Israeli position Netanyahu will bring to Washington next week. Clinton’s separate meetings with the Israeli leader and with Yasir Arafat, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, are the culmination of a four-month effort by the American administration to rescue the faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace.
On Tuesday, the Cabinet declared that any further Israeli withdrawal was conditional on the Palestinians’ taking almost 50 specific and stringent measures that the Israelis said they were bound to carry out under previous agreements.
The list, released Wednesday, ranged from cutting back the Palestinian police force to amending the bulk of the Palestinian National Covenant.
The Cabinet said the list was based on commitments in the “note for the record” appended to the Hebron agreement of a year ago, which called on the Palestinians to finish revising the Palestinian National Charter and to take measures to fight terrorism and prevent violence.
“This doesn’t leave much” for the Palestinians, a U.S. official said after seeing the Israeli list. “One can only assume it is a starting point. … It sounds like they are anticipating a tough meeting (Tuesday) with the president.”
The “note for the record” also listed several Israeli responsibilities, including a further redeployment to be carried out in the first week of March last year, and said the commitments “will be dealt with immediately and in parallel.”
By mid-March, however, the entire process ground to a halt in mutual recriminations.
In coming days, the government is expected to debate the scope of any withdrawal Netanyahu can propose.
The Palestinians had no specific comment on Wednesday’s decision. But Arafat and other Palestinian officials have repeatedly expressed the fear that Netanyahu’s government was setting conditions that would effectively eliminate any chance of continuing the disengagement process begun under the 1993 Oslo agreements.
After meeting with King Hussein in Jordan Wednesday, Arafat told reporters that his hopes were on the Washington meetings. “If the peace process fails, God forbid, all options are open,” he said.
The sharpest comments were focused on the conditions set by Israel. “These conditions are the reason nothing has happened in five months,” said Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian negotiator.
In advance of the trip, Israeli nationalists have mounted a campaign to prevent Netanyahu from ceding more territory in the West Bank.
More than 20,000 right-wing Israelis gathered Wednesday evening for a rally on Rabin Square in Tel Aviv under a giant banner reading, “You were elected to preserve the Land of Israel.” One poster said, “Clinton, you’re not a friend,” reflecting the hostility of many nationalists to American efforts to get Netanyahu to commit himself to making a “credible” withdrawal from the West Bank.
xxxx West Bank wish list The government wants to keep: Security strips on the eastern and western borders of the West Bank. Jewish settlements and areas around Jerusalem. Water, electricity and transportation infrastructure. Sites of strategic importance or “of pertinence to Israel’s deterrence capability.” Jewish holy sites.