Arafat-Mordechai meeting unlikely
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 7/7/1998

Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu has come under pressure from within and without his government and the latest round of assault he received was an ultimatum given by trade and industry minister Natan Sharanksy.

"The time has come to reach a decision, this or that way," Sharansky reportedly told Netanyahu a few days ago. He made it clear that he won't be ready to wait later than this Friday as a deadline for a final decision to be taken by the government on the peace talks with the Palestinians. "Either it should be announced that Israel is curtailing its effort to complete negotiations with the Palestinians, or alternatively, subjects which have been discussed should be brought to the government for decision."

Sharansky, a well-known Russian Jew who spent many years in a Russian jail before his release and immigration into Israel, is a key cabinet member in Netanyahu's government. He is a member of the so-called kitchenette, or the inner cabinet of the Likud government, along with ministers of defense, Yitzhak Mordechai and national infrastructure Ariel Sharon. Sharansky demanded that Netanyahu tell the public "where things stand" and make clear who is responsible for the failed talks with the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, sources in Netanyahu's office said the differences with the US Administration on the question of redeployment were being bridged and that contacts with US officials have reached a critical point in which a decision is likely to be reached this week. It is not clear yet if the assessment came before or after the Sharansky ultimatum. The sources said that should it turn out that Israel and the US Administration are getting closer to each other, defense minister Yitzhak Mordechai will be dispatched to Gaza to meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat by Thursday night or Friday morning. But Israel still claims the major stumbling block that delays the signing of any agreement on the redeployment is the alleged rejection of the Palestinian government to commit itself to changing the remaining clauses of the Palestinian National Charter. According to the Israeli press on Tuesday, Netanyahu had discussed this issue in a telephone call on Sunday night with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

In Gaza, Palestinian officials said that not a single Israeli official had contacted them to arrange for a meeting between the president and Mordechai. "President Arafat welcomes any meetings if they prove to be useful and fruitful to the peace process. Should minister Mordechai wish to meet the President, he'd better come with a clear-cut decision on the second phase withdrawal of the Israeli troops in the West Bank," an official source said Tuesday.

Netanyahu, Mordechai and Sharansky believe that should the Palestinians live up to Israeli demands, then 13.1 percent of the West Bank area should be delivered to them, in accord with arrangements which have been agreed upon. Sharon continues to insist that Israel not deliver to the Palestinians any more than 9 percent of the territories of the West Bank. Sharansky, who sides with Netanyahu's demand of the Palestinian government with regard to the Palestinian covenant, believes that it is wrong to agree to what he terms legal tricks that Palestinian and US officials propose in the talks.

In an interview he gave to the Russian language VESTI daily a few days ago, Sharansky angered senior officials in the Clinton Administration when he said that the Jewish figures who surround the president belong to the American branch of Peace Now, a peace movement active in Israel.

Previous Stories:
  Serious confrontation between Palestine and Israel, further showdowns expected   (7/3/1998)
  UN Security Council debates acting on Israeli Jerusalem plan   (7/1/1998)
  Security map strips Netanyahu naked   (7/1/1998)

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