Arab summit and the Israeli withdrawal
Palestine-Regional, Politics, 6/1/1998

Israel's inner cabinet, better known as the kitchen, is due to meet Tuesday to discuss the latest round of contacts between the US Administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel regarding the further redeployment scopes of Israeli army in the West Bank.

Israeli senior sources said Monday that Netanyahu has worked out a formula by which Israel would pull out of all 15 percent of the West Bank in the remaining two phases of the redeployment but at partial installments. The sources said that Netanyahu has presented to the US his preliminary acceptance of the 13 percent scope of withdrawal in the second stage but on minor phases conditional to Palestinian implementation of a set of demands. Netanyahu, the sources said, has informed the US that his troops would pull out of additional two percent out of the West Bank in the third stage "but the idea has not fully received a US acceptance."

Senior sources at Netanyahu's office were reportedly disturbed by the fact that the US has sided against Israel's views on the final status of the West Bank. The sources said the US has as such rejected an Israeli demand to have security zones along the Jordan Valley in areas close to borders with the Palestinian controlled territories. Furthermore, Palestinian officials reportedly told their Israeli counterparts that they have received messages lately from Washington saying that the Clinton administration does not support Israel's stances regarding the final agreement and is opposed to security areas along the Jordan Valley border with the autonomy.

Palestinian efforts, meanwhile, are now on the pan-Arab front with hopes that the Arab heads of state reach an agreement to hold an Arab summit soon to discuss the present impasse in the peace process. A Palestinian cabinet announcement two days ago called for the imposition of sanctions on Israel for failing to implement the agreed clauses of the interim agreements. According to Palestinian estimates, the Arab summit will not convene before the release of a statement from US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that Israel is responsible for the failure of the peace initiative.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal told Reuters on Monday that most of the countries have agreed to attend the forthcoming summit but went into no more details. Al Faisal was in Amman trying to obtain Jordan's approval for holding the Arab summit.

Palestinian diplomatic sources in Ramallah said Monday that the main issue, which so far has obstructed an agreement on the summit was the question whether Iraq would be invited or not. Another issue that is still considered one of the reasons that have delayed holding the summit was reservations Jordan and Egypt have with regard to the likelihood of the Arab summit issuing a hard line communique calling for the immediate severance of ties with Israel.

Neither Jordan nor Egypt is interested in severing ties with Israel despite the great disappointment both feel from the way the Israeli government is handling the peace process. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Hussein of Jordan, Palestinian sources said, have lost every trust they had in Netanyahu. "Because of the numerous promises he pledged before them but failed to honor, Netanyahu is no more trustworthy in Cairo or Amman," the sources said. The assessment is that King Hussein himself, though very disappointed at Netanyahu, is still adamant to announce the failure of the peace concept with Israel. Peace is a strategic choice for Jordan and King Hussein strongly believes the failure of Netanyahu to move forward with the peace process does not necessarily mean the failure of the peace concept itself.

In Tuesday's inner cabinet meeting, both Netanyahu and his national infrastructure minister Ariel Sharon are expected to clash on the scope of the withdrawal from the West Bank. Sharon insists that the Israeli army should not pull out of more than nine percent of the territories. In return, he offers a territorial contiguity for the Palestinians in such a way that a Palestinian can travel from Hebron in the south to Jenin in the north without having to go through any Israeli army roadblocks. Netanyahu, who is vulnerable to serious pressure to accept the US-proposed 13.1 percent, hopes to obtain his coalition's support and that of the Knesset as well despite the strong opposition he faces from the extreme right-wing members of his government.

Jewish settlers on the West Bank, meanwhile, have stepped up their campaign to prevent any withdrawal in the West Bank. In part of this campaign, the settlers' council plans to send one million letters to various Israeli families asking them to oppose any further redeployment. The letters will explain the so-called security dangers a potential Israeli army redeployment will pose on Israel's security and on that of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Previous Stories:
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  Israel vs. the universe, the Europeans have an answer Israel understands: Economics   (5/20/1998)
  Netanyahu is back: conditional acceptance of 13% pullout   (5/18/1998)

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