No breakthrough worries Israel as next week's conference may isolate Israel
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 7/23/1998

A week before the "Jerusalem Committee" convenes in Casablanca, Israel expressed worries that the conference might demand of some of the Arab states that have relations with Israel to sever their ties.

Israeli official sources were quoted as saying that reports have already reached the Israeli Foreign Ministry that in the event that no breakthrough is achieved in the peace talks with the Palestine government, the conference might ask Morocco, Tunisia, Oman, Qatar and Mauritania to sever all ties with Israel. Egypt, Jordan and Palestine are not included in the list, the sources said.

In March last year, the "Jerusalem Committee", presided by King Hassan II of Morocco, decided that all relations with Israel should be frozen but the decision was implemented only partially. According to the Israelis, King Hassan II has avoided convening the conference over the past year in order not to allow the Jerusalem Committee to take drastic measures against Israel. But according to the Israeli assessment, the plan to expand Jerusalem's boundaries, the current impasse in the peace talks and Israel's failure to implement the second phase redeployment of its troops in the West Bank had furnished the Moroccan monarch with enough reasons to convene the conference.

Israel's concern is based on the fact that the director of Morocco's liaison office in Israel will be returning to his country next week on what was said to be a temporary vacation. But whereas his vacation falls during the convening of the conference, Israel believes the timing was perfectly planned and it has fed fears that the Moroccan diplomat might not return to Tel Aviv.

The last Tunisian diplomat in Israel, meanwhile, left approximately two weeks ago. Oman and Qatar have kept their diplomats away for almost a year and the only Arab diplomats currently in Tel Aviv are from Mauritania, in addition of course to the embassies of Jordan and Egypt.

The talks between the Palestinian government and Israel, meanwhile, seem to have reached another deadlock with the Palestinians insisting that they have not accepted any offer to resume negotiations on Thursday. PLO Executive Committee member Mahmoud Abbas told Reuters upon his return from Amman that the talks have reached an impasse and that, "We have not agreed on holding any further meetings with Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai following the decision taken by the Palestinian leadership to halt the talks."

Abbas held talks in Amman with Crown Prince Hassan who was quoted by the official Jordanian news agency, Petra, as saying that both sides have accepted the Jordanian proposals and were supposed to return to their meetings on Thursday. "Yet," he said, "a lot of work needs to be done before the end of this month in order for the peace process to bet back on track." Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu dispatched Wednesday night his special aide, Yizhak Molcho, to Gaza to meet with President Arafat but he returned with no positive answers.

Arafat reportedly explained to Molcho why the Palestinian government saw no use in convening any further talks with Israel. Molcho asked Arafat to send Abu Mazen for another meeting with Mordechai. Arafat refused and then promised to think and evaluate the situation again. He reportedly told Molcho that a final decision on the issue would be issued the following day. Palestinian official sources said today that the Palestinian government has not changed its position and stressed that no further talks would be held with the Israelis.

Mordechai, however, said today that talks with the Palestinians would resume soon, but he seemed to have backtracked from his earlier announcement which spoke of a meeting with Abu Mazen in the evening. Israel has continued to claim that some progress had been achieved in the last few days and said the real obstacle en route to an agreement is the security memorandum. Israel has asked that a new memorandum be drafted to replace the one reached by Palestinian, Israel and US security officers last November. The Palestinians totally rejected the Israeli demand.

Israeli TV Channel 2 late-night news reported that the US had rejected a request by Mordechai to send special envoy to the Middle East, Dennis Ross, to try and bridge gaps between the Palestinian government and Israel. Israeli diplomatic source said the US has apparently decided to stick to the newly adopted position to let the two parties work out their own differences on their own.

So far, things seem to be totally out of focus in Israel itself, with no clear signals coming from the government. Netanyahu sounded sure of himself and continued to transmit statements of self-confidence despite the mounting pressure on him from within his government and without. Heads of the Jewish settlement council in the Jordan Valley said that Netanyahu had already issued orders to the Israeli army to prepare maps for the forthcoming redeployment of the Israeli army at a scope of 13 percent. No official source could confirm the report, which is seen as part of a nerve war the settlers are launching to prevent any Israeli withdrawal in the West Bank.

Another source of pressure on Netanyahu continued to come from far away China where national infrastructure minister Ariel Sharon is on an official visit. The Israeli press has been full of reports over the past few days on Sharon's intensive telephone campaign which he has utilized to mobilize opposition to any withdrawal that covers more than nine percent of the West Bank territories. Maariv daily even reported today that Sharon has gone so far as to consider running for premiership in the next elections.

Observers could not agree on whether Sharon's threats would be strong enough to deter Netanyahu from carrying out any further redeployment, mainly because of the unexpected support Netanyahu has recently enjoyed from some of his traditional foes. By Wednesday night, 16 Labor Party Knesset members and four members of the United Arab List had announced that they would furnish Netanyahu with a safety net should he go ahead with the 13 percent scope of further redeployment in the West Bank. With these 20 parliament members siding behind Netanyahu, a no-confidence motion is not likely to pass any Knesset votes.

More support for Netanyahu, surprisingly, is coming from the peace movements in Israel. Beginning Thursday, a "Save the Peace" banner will head the broad campaign of the Peace Camp Headquarters, an umbrella of some 20 Israeli peace movements. The campaign includes demonstrations at main intersections, posting of giant banners declaring "Peace is in Danger - It Must be Saved," and distribution of stickers and flags to drivers.

Previous Stories:
  No progress in Palestine-Israel talks, political reshuffle in Israel expected   (7/22/1998)
  US Jewish organization exposes East Jerusalem settler funding   (7/22/1998)
  US: Ball in Israel's court   (7/13/1998)

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