Redeployment: Israel is slow and dragging its feet
Palestine, Politics, 12/2/1997

Palestine has started a major diplomatic offensive in the Arab world to mobilize more pressure on the Israeli government, Palestinian sources said. They noted that Tuesday's visit to Ramallah by Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul Salam Al Majali falls within this Palestinian effort, which will shortly include dispatching Palestinian officials to a number of Arab capitals.

President Yasser Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, reiterated on Tuesday that the Israeli government has not submitted to the Palestinian any details of the decision it took. "Only after we receive these details officially, will we announce our position,² said Abu Rudeineh.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai and National Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon were both reportedly busy preparing maps of their own concerning Israel's security and strategic needs, in the context of discussions aimed at finalizing Israel¹s second phase withdrawal offer. Those maps, Israeli sources confirmed, are due to be presented to the cabinet next Sunday. Mordechai held Tuesday a series of consultations with his top military aides about a number of possible alternatives for the second phase withdrawal. These alternatives, military sources said, were being contemplated to meet a variety of decisions and guidelines given by the political leadership in Israel.

Sharon too was busy preparing his own map, based on his earlier proposal of setting up security zones in both the Jordan Valley to serve as a buffer zone with Jordan and another buffer zone along the 1967 borders to separate Israeli and Palestinian areas in parts of the West Bank. Proposals of both Mordechai and Sharon will be discussed in detail by the other members of the ministerial committee which the Israeli cabinet set last week to discuss the second phase redeployment in the West Bank. The committee, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, includes, apart from Sharon and Mordechai, foreign minister David Levy. Even if the maps are drawn by Sunday, a decision on the scope of the Israeli redeployment is not expected before the end of December, Israeli sources confirmed.

Palestinian sources in Ramallah said Tuesday that from behind-the-scenes contacts with US officials, they felt that the US administration is unhappy with the Israeli cabinet's decision. The US, the sources said, wanted to see that the third phase of redeployment also implemented before mid-1998, contrary to what Netanyahu had suggested when he spoke of canceling the third phase and including it in the final status arrangements in the West Bank.

An official State Department statement on Monday said that Netanyahu¹s announcement "is a step in the right direction, but now we have to see how much substance is in it.² State Department Spokesman James Rubin said the United States expects that the next phase will be ³defined and reliable.² He also stressed that the Americans have assured the Palestinians that the three phases will be carried out ³according to the agreements, no later than the middle of 1998.²

According to Israeli political sources in Tel Aviv, US officials were speaking in far harsher tones about the Netanyahu initiative. In reports published in the Hebrew press Tuesday, the sources quoted US officials as saying that in reaching its decision on Sunday, the government of Israel ignored the fact that the three phases are to be carried out before the final arrangement comes about. "The Americans also insist that Israel present a timetable for the three phases, and declare openly a "time-out" in terms of Jewish settlement constructions in the West Bank.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright reportedly conducted consultations in an attempt to formulate the American response to Netanyahu¹s initiative. She later relayed to the prime minister¹s office a list of questions and requests relating to the initiative. Upon receiving the list, Netanyahu decided to dispatch his political advisor, Dr. Uzi Arad, to Washington in order to explain the cabinet decision.

Albright has also announced that in coming days she will be speaking with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu in an attempt to clarify whether negotiations can be advanced on the basis of the Israeli cabinet decision. Arafat and Netanyahu had discussed the decision on the phone Monday night and Arafat reportedly insisted that Israeli carry out a significant segment of redeployment of its troops in the West Bank before the end of this year and that the third phase of redeployment be implemented in full before June 1998.

Meanwhile, Israel's Peace Now movement called on the government to hand over at least 60 percent of the West Bank lands to the Palestinians before the final status arrangements are concluded and said that 25 Israeli settlements in the West Bank should be dismantled, including the settlement of Elon Moreh near Nablus and the Jewish settlement in the heart of Hebron. A spokesperson for the movement said that a Knesset majority can easily be reached in support for this proposal which will help put the peace process back on track. But the Israeli government has not shown any signs of readiness to dismantle any Jewish settlement. On the contrary, more decisions are taken to augment Jewish settlement in the Occupied Territories and lately the construction of 120 housing units in the Jewish settlement of Ariel near Nablus had begun for the first time since the Netanyahu government came to power.

The Ministry of Construction and Housing put out a tender for the construction and in the coming days it will put out another tender for an additional 200 housing units in Ariel, in part of an authorized plan to build some 1,000 housing units in Ariel. The original plan was developed during the premiership of Yitzhak Shamir and was frozen by the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Two months ago, the minister of defense thawed the Rabin government decision and revived the old Shamin plan for this settlement.

Besides, the Israel Land Authority put out a tender of its own to market land for the construction of 26 housing units in the settlement of Nisanit, only two kilometers away from the Palestinian refugee camp of Jabalia in Gaza. Peace Now movement said the decision to build in Nisanit ³seems to be the first time since the days of Shamir that there is a resumption of construction in the Gaza Strip.² According to Peace Now statistics, there are 486 settlers living in Nisanit.

Previous Stories:
  Israel goes on alert fearing of a new round of Hamas attacks   (12/1/1997)
  2nd redeployment is approved but no lines   (12/1/1997)
  Palestine expects 30% of areas in troop redeployment   (11/25/1997)

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