Netanyahu bent the Oslo process
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 5/6/1998

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked triumphantly into the Likud Central Committee meeting on Tuesday night hours after his return from London. Despite all press reports and official announcements that the London talks failed to de-freeze the stalled peace process, Netanyahu seemed to be very happy. Even happier than expected.

The reason, according to a report published by the large circulation Maariv Hebrew daily on Wednesday, was his success in "bending" the Oslo Accords. The paper quoted one of Netanyahu's senior aides as saying that talks in London "have proved that the prime minister's strategic objective was attained - the Oslo process has come to a halt."

"Instead of transferring the West Bank to the Palestinian National Authority within a year and a half," the aide said, "We are in a situation in which most of the territory will be in our hands prior to the commencement of the final status talks. We've put a stop to the Oslo process and have succeeded in keeping most of the land in our possession without being perceived as having violated the agreement," said the senior aide.

Meanwhile, discussions have reportedly started within the prime minister's office to prepare a new plan by which Israel may have to pull out of 12 to 13 percent of the West Bank in the form of the second phase redeployment. Netanyahu is worried about a major confrontation with the US and hopes to get approval from his cabinet. But Palestinian officials believe Netanyahu is doing nothing to move the peace process forward. On the contrary, said one official, he is using his Cabinet to cover up for his intention to put an end to the Oslo Accords.

The assessment among Palestinian officials is that next week's summit meeting in Washington may not take place since "it is almost out of question to expect Netanyahu to be ready by next week for a second phase redeployment." The US Administration is waiting until Sunday for Netanyahu to announce his acceptance of the US proposals. But the Israeli Cabinet won't meet before next Sunday morning. With the ongoing debate within the government, it is inconceivable to expect the ministers to take a decisive decision on the second phase redeployment.

Palestinian officials denied reports in Israel suggesting that the Palestinian government has agreed to drop the third phase of redeployment in the West Bank. Press reports circulating in Israel claimed that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat agreed to move directly to the final status talks with Israel once the second phase of the Israeli pullout is implemented.

But Palestinian officials in Ramallah said the Palestinian government has accepted the 13.1 percent proposal the US forwarded in order to prove who is really obstructing peace in the region.

"We have stressed that there should be a third redeployment as well and this message is well understood in London not only by Israel but also by the US and British officials," said one official. He confirmed reports that the Palestinian government had rejected an Israeli proposal to withdrawal gradually from the West Bank. "Netanyahu suggested a gradual withdrawal of 11 percent in return for a number of preconditions which President Arafat rejected," said the official. Those conditions, he said, included the cancellation of the third phase redeployment, the resumption of the final status talks and the fulfillment of a number of Palestinian commitments.

Israel, meanwhile, seems to be preparing itself for a situation in which at least 40 percent of the West Bank would be under the Palestinian government's control by the end of the third phase of redeployment, should the US insist on Israel to carry out the three stages of its troop pullout.

A senior source in Netanyahu's office was quoted by Maariv as saying that "even in the worst scenario, which would entail the Palestinians receiving 40 percent of the West Bank by the end of all three phases, Israel finds itself in a much more comfortable position than it would have had the original outline of the Oslo process been followed through."

Previous Stories:
  Hamas calls on Arafat reconsider policy   (5/5/1998)
  London talks end with failure   (5/5/1998)
  Netanyahu fears US recognition of Palestinian state, as Ross and Indyk lack breakthrough   (4/27/1998)

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