Deep differences characterize 1st day of Clinton's visit
Palestine-USA, Politics, 12/12/1998

Separated by deep differences, US President Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu are both in waiting for the outcome of the Monday session of the Palestine National Council in Gaza.

Israel wanted the PNC to cancel the national charter that calls for the destruction of the Israel. The Palestinians insist the charter was amended back in 1996 and therefore "there is no need to cancel what has already been canceled." President Clinton is to attend the Gaza session and his views of what happens in the course of the session will be crucial in decided the next steps. If President Clinton says the hand raising voting in the PNC was enough and if Netanyahu says he is satisfied with the voting, a three-way summit might take place on Monday night, or Tuesday morning at the latest between Presidents Clinton and Arafat and premier Netanyahu.

Clinton arrived in Israel late Saturday night. Israeli president Ezer Weizman greeted him with a warm speech, unlike the one made by Netanyahu who, against all protocols, delivered a long speech and switched between English and Hebrew. According to the protocol, only the two presidents were supposed to speak: Clinton and Weizman. President Clinton stressed the subject of security in his speech, and said that the United States would march in the process along side of Israel. US sources said the Clinton Administration disagrees with Netanyahu when he claims that the Palestinians have not implemented any of the Wye Agreement clauses.

Israel, meanwhile, claims it would not be ready to carry out any of the outstanding clauses of Wye Agreement until after the PNA meets a set of Israeli demands, most of which were not included in Wye Agreement.

Israel wants a declaration from President Arafat that he would not declare the establishment of an independent Palestinian state by May next year. Israel also wants the PNC to cancel the national charter and PNA to take more steps against opposition groups. The Palestinians want Israel to release political and security prisoners, to carry out the further redeployment of its troops in the West Bank, to expand the pace of the third phase withdrawal which stands at the moment at only one percent of the West Bank territories, to open the safe passages between the West Bank and Gaza and to authorize the opening of work to establish the Gaza seaport.

Approximately 15,000 police, soldiers, Israeli general security services, American secret service, PNA police and preventative security are part of the safety arrangements for President Clinton's visit. The unprecedented security caused heavy traffic disruptions in West Jerusalem. Surrounded by hundreds of police and guards, the Hilton hotel is combed daily by sappers and explosive sniffing dogs as snipers took positions on the surrounding buildings. Late last week, Israeli and American security officials carried out a security check of all government offices which look out onto the prime minister's office building, where Clinton and Netanyahu met Sunday.

Islamic Jihad leader Abdallah Shami said in Gaza that Clinton has come to the region in order to "concoct conspiracies" against the opposition movement. "Clinton's mission is therefore satanic." Shami said the current wave of demonstrations in the Palestinian territories in solidarity with the political prisoners might not be enough to secure their release. Instead, he called for abducting Israeli soldiers in order to negotiate their release for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

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