Ross told: Significant withdrawal is expected, Israeli attitude poll
Palestine-Israel-USA, Politics, 3/27/1998

Prior to his meeting with US special envoy to the Middle East, Dennis Ross, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat convened his Cabinet and briefed them on the basic demands he was to present to Ross. Arafat, said his aides, wanted the US to play a more effective role in the peace process and to exert pressure on Israel to honor its commitments to the interim agreements.

The Palestinian government, reliable sources said, has not finalized its stand on the Israeli proposal of "qualitative withdrawal" from areas in the West Bank adjacent to the Palestinian cities and preferred to first hear the details of the Israeli offer from the US Envoy and perhaps from Israeli police minister Avigdor Kahalani who is due to meet with President Arafat in Ramallah on Sunday.

Arafat's special advisor on Israeli affairs, Dr. Ahmad Tibi, said the Palestinians expect Israel to carry out a significant withdrawal, and for the time being they won¹t reject American bridging efforts. "There won¹t be public agreement prior to the plan, but there also won¹t be automatic rejection of these ideas which have yet to be presented, and when this proposal is presented to the Palestinian side it will be studied very seriously,² said Tibi. Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, however, said the Palestinian government decided to demand from Ross that Israel should carry out a credible withdrawal from the West Bank and declare a complete halt to Jewish settlement activities in the Occupied Territories, including East Jerusalem.

Ross arrived in Israel Thursday night and met with president Ezer Weizman who lately had voiced some criticism at the way the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu is handling the peace talks with the Palestinians. Weizman later briefed Netanyahu on the content of his talks with Ross, who met with Netanyahu Friday morning at his office in West Jerusalem. Outside the prime minister's office, dozens of Jewish settlers and right wing activists demonstrated calling on the US not to exert any pressure on Israel and demanding of the government not to carry out any further redeployment in the West Bank.

Israeli sources said the US does not intend to present its view on the political process in the region as an ultimatum but would rather present general guidelines for an arrangement instead of a peace initiative format. Therefore, both Palestinian and Israeli observers expected that Ross' tour in the region may end with no real results. Ross, sources in his entourage said, wanted to visit Cairo and meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to seek his help in convincing President Arafat to accept the 13.1 percent scope of Israeli redeployment the US Administration is suggesting. Egypt has on a number of occasions declared its support for Palestinian demands that the second phase redeployment of the Israeli army should cover at least 30 percent of the West Bank land, bringing the area under Palestinian control close to 55 percent while in the third phase redeployment some 90 percent of the West Bank will end up in the hands of the Palestinians.

A poll conducted in Israel and published by the largest circulation daily Yediot Ahronot's on Friday showed that a majority of 60 percent of the Israelis believe that as far as security needs for Israel are concerned, there is a significant difference between the 9 percent offered by Israel to pull its troops out and the 13 percent the US has suggested. Only 36 percent said the difference was not significant and four percent said it was very insignificant. But 43 percent of those questioned said they believe Israel should compromise with the US.

Asked whether Israel should stick to its position, accede to the American demands, or agree to compromise somewhere in the middle while taking in account relations with the US and Israel¹s security needs, 37 percent said Israel should not back down at all and should stick to its current position; 43 percent said it should compromise somewhere in the middle, 16 percent said it should agree to the American demand and only 3 percent said it should withdraw from a larger area.

The overwhelming majority of those questioned, however, supported the continuation of the Oslo Accords (75 percent) while only 17 percent said the Oslo Agreements should be scrapped and a new agreement should be worked on. And despite the current impasse in the peace process. A slight majority (52 percent) said they believe peace can be obtained with the Palestinians in the next five years while 46 percent said they did not believe it could be reached within the coming five year period.

Previous Stories:
  Ross delayed, Israeli initiative to bypass U.S. pressure   (3/26/1998)
  Ross arrives with no initiative as right wing threatens walkout   (3/25/1998)
  Israel offers no more than 10% redeployment   (3/24/1998)

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