Palestinians still hope to restore parts of Jerusalem soon
Palestine, Politics, 1/25/2000

Palestinian officials still hope to spread their control over areas close to Jerusalem within the upcoming implementation of the Israeli troop redeployment in the West Bank. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told the Voice of Palestine Tuesday morning that talks were still going on with Israel, but refused to get into details when asked if areas close to Jerusalem would be handed over to the Palestine National Authority.

Erekat's statement followed reports in Israel that said Prime Minister Ehud Barak has denied he ever gave instructions to the Israeli negotiating team to consider the possibility of including some villagers close to Jerusalem and its vicinity in areas to be transferred to the PNA.

Barak's media advisor reiterated that his boss has not changed his position on this issue. Oded Eran, head of the Israeli negotiating team, has also said that there was no decision to discuss the future of quarters in Jerusalem during the negotiations. But Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh hinted that areas close to Occupied Jerusalem might be handed over to the PNA but not in the upcoming troop redeployment. "At present, we are not even talking about handing parts of the areas surrounding Jerusalem over to the Palestinians," Sneh told Israel Radio. His stress on the present time gave way for observers to suggest that Israel at a later stage would be more prepared to discuss transferring parts of Jerusalem's surroundings to the Palestinians.

In their meeting on Monday, Erekat and Eran discussed a number of issues related to the upcoming withdrawal of the Israeli troops in the West Bank, but Erekat sounded a bit hesitant to announce that Israel has agreed to pull out of 6.1 percent of the West Bank. "All is being discussed with the Israeli side and the talks go on," he said. Erekat said the meeting was serious and addressed the final round of redeployment that should cover the 6.1 percent.

"We are discussing the pace of withdrawal, and we have told the Israelis that we both need to agree in advance of everything done on the ground," he said. "Naturally, we are following up statements made by Israeli officials to their own press claiming the have the exclusive right to decide which areas should be included in the redeployment. My response to such statements is that we should discuss these issues together, and we hope the redeployment will take place as soon as possible."

Erekat said that the area of the West Bank should be based on the borderline of June 4, 1967, refuting allegations by Israel that the area should be measured excluding the Jewish settlements in the area. Consequently, the entire area of West Bank and Gaza Strip according to the borderline of 1967 including Jerusalem is 6,205 square kilometers, said Erekat.

Palestinian official sources, meanwhile, expressed disappointment at Barak's decision to boycott the Davos economic conference in Switzerland next Saturday. Barak was due to attend a three-way summit with President Arafat and President Clinton. Israeli sources hinted that Barak did not want to become a target of pressure in Davos and preferred to stay back home where he would be holding next Sunday a concise meeting to assess the peace talks on the Syrian track.

Previous Stories:
  Palestinian and Israeli delegations convene to discuss the transitional stage   (1/24/2000)
  Not everybody in Israel happy with the forthcoming visit by the Pope   (1/21/2000)
  PNA angry at Israel's deferral of third phase pullout   (1/17/2000)

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