Palestine urged to continue beyond latest failure of US efforts
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 5/11/1998

The Palestinians need to exert great efforts to arrange their internal affairs and get prepared for a prolonged impasse in the peace process and a possible outbreak of conflict with Israel over the latest failure of the US peace efforts, said Palestinian Legislative Council member Nabil Amr.

Commenting on the failure to hold the Washington Clinton-Arafat-Netanyahu summit on Monday, Amr said the failure was anticipated and that the standoff in the peace process was expected to last longer. Yet, he called on Palestine to continue its efforts and not to stop before the latest failure.

Amr, a political advisor to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, said the Palestinian government should stress on the fact that there were agreements singed with Israel under the auspices of the US. Therefore, he said, the US "is requested to do more in order to make sure that Israel stands up to its commitments in the agreements." He warned against exaggerated assessment of the current friction between Israel and the US Administration saying that Israel maintains its influence in the US through the Congress, the State Department, and through a number of key financial and media organizations. Amr said the current differences between Israel and the US should not mislead the Arab world or the Palestinians into believing that an open clash between the two sides is inevitable.

But US sources quoted by the Hebrew press on Monday said they believed a clash between the Clinton Administration and Israel is unavoidable. The assessment in Washington is that Israel wants to bury the third redeployment phase in the final status talks and is trying to get away with the second phase withdrawal by means of adopting the smaller scope it can. Israeli sources, however, said at least two more weeks are needed to bridge the gaps between Israel and the US. The sources, as such, said the three-way summit meeting might finally take pace sometime after 20 May. Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu had requested a one-week postponement but US Special envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross prefers to hold the summit this week, and offered to hold it [tomorrow] Wednesday in Birmingham, England, to coincide with the convention of advanced industrialized nations. Other possible dates for holding the summit were 19 May in Washington or any other day towards the end of this month.

Meanwhile, the administration continues its efforts to finalize formulation of the compromise. All of the Israeli ideas, which were, published yesterday exclusively in Maariv are now being discussed by the administration. The most outstanding idea: to carry out a second redeployment with a range of 9-10 percent, and to entrust the remainder of the territory (2-4 percent) as a "trust" in the hands of the US, until a later time when the Palestinians have completed the fulfillment of their obligations.

These sources said the Clinton Administration is about to announce within a number of days that the US is putting an end to its mediation between Israel and Palestine, until Israel announces its willingness to accept the American initiative. According to the WASHINGTON POST, President Clinton has already authorized his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, to make a speech in which the US proposals would be made public. In that speech, the paper said, Albright will declare the end of the US mediation efforts until after Israel announces officially its acceptance of the US ideas. The paper said that President Clinton decided to risk a confrontation with Israel after he concluded that the failure of US efforts would deal a severe blow to US status in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Israel is said annoyed at the remarks made by President Yasser Arafat who said that Israel would withdraw during the third redeployment under the observation of a joint Israeli, American and Palestinian committee. Arafat said the Palestinians would be compensated for the extent of the withdrawal in the second redeployment with a withdrawal that will be included in the third redeployment. A high-ranking official in Netanyahu's office told Israel Radio that the remarks raise questions over the value of the American promises concerning the third redeployment that were given to Israel during the London talks.

Previous Stories:
  Palestinians plan for the 1999 declaration of state   (5/8/1998)
  Palestine denies Arafat's approval of Abu Dis as Palestinian capital   (5/7/1998)
  Netanyahu bent the Oslo process   (5/6/1998)

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