Palestine and settlers involved in secret talks
The Palestinian government and Jewish settlers in the West Bank have been involved in secret talks over the past few months, with some sessions taking place in Europe.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's advisor on strategic issues, Hani Al Hassan, confirmed Tuesday that he has met on a number of occasions with leaders of the Jewish settlement movement in the West Bank. "We discussed in principle the fact that Jewish settlers are built on Palestinian land and we went into ideas of what can be done to solve this crucial issue," Al Hassan said in an interview with Voice of Palestine.
He added that he raised the possibility that the Palestinians would bear in mind the financial side of the issue and might be ready to buy some of those settlements from the settlers who had invested their own money in building their houses. Al Hassan, who in the past denied that such meetings ever took place, admitted that the atmosphere in which those meetings were held was smooth, frank and satisfactory since they discussed ways to reach a settlement without having to impose it on either side.
Meanwhile, the Israeli cabinet is due to meet Tuesday, to resume its discussion of maps detailing the so-called Israeli security zones in the West Bank, amid rising differences between ministers Yitzhak Mordechai of defense and Ariel Sharon of national infrastructure who believes his colleague has been a bit more generous with the Palestinians.
But in the meantime, there have been no signs whatsoever that Israel plans to implement the second stage of redeployment in the near future. According to Israeli sources, the Netanyahu government believes that even once a certain percentage of pullback is agreed upon, it won't be implemented before five or six months from today in order "to examine the seriousness" of the Palestinian government in fighting anti-peace groups within its territories, a euphemism for Hamas and some other radical groups. Thus, if a single suicide attack takes place against Israelis until mid-1998, the whole concept of redeployment will fall apart and the Israeli army will maintain its present positions, sources said. It is because of this pretext, the sources confirmed, that the Israeli government has rejected a US proposal to begin implementing the second phase of redeployment as early as next month, with the hope of finishing it no later than mid-January.
US Undersecretary of State Martin Indyk presented the proposal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their meeting Sunday night, the sources said. They added that Indyk suggested transferring to the Palestinians areas from both Areas C and B. After the meeting, Indyk said that the US understands Israel needs additional time to formulate its political moves and that the US expects the Israeli plan to be ready by mid-January. In the meantime, Israeli participants in contact with US officials have repeatedly claimed that Netanyahu needs a chance to pass the budget vote at the Knesset, which is seen as a serious threat to his government. Once the budget is passed in a few weeks, Netanyahu will have less reason to be intimidated by continued threats of the right to topple his government, they argued
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Yet in his upcoming Thursday meeting with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Paris, Netanyahu will present only the general guidelines of his plan for the redeployment but will avoid presenting any specific percentage. His argument, Israeli sources believe, is to gain more time while trying to avert extra US pressure on his government. Netanyahu has asked Foreign Minister David Levy to accompany him, in what seems to be a sign that Netanyahu is leaning towards Levy’s position on security interests and the second phase, and is moving away from the opposing proposal of Sharon.
Levy has yet to respond to Netanyahu’s proposal, and is expected to make his decision following Tuesday's cabinet meeting. Levy was open in the past few days in his support for a US role in the peacemaking efforts. During the Sunday cabinet session he told the ministers that American involvement in the process is in Israel's interest. "I am convinced that the cooperation with the Americans, at this critical point, is certainly preferable to any other option,” he said.
Meanwhile, Knesset member Hanan Porat (of the ultra-right wing National Religious Party) claims that Prime Minister Netanyahu proposed to settlers that they demonstrate in front of the American embassy in Tel Aviv instead of picketing his house or office. Porat said that in a meeting with the prime minister, Netanyahu asked why the settlers were demonstrating against him. Porat replied: “We support you, so that you will not make the wrong decisions under outside pressure.” Porat claims that in response Netanyahu said: “If that is your objective, I am for it, but demonstrate in front of the American Embassy.” A response from Netanyahu denied the report and said the prime minister "does not send people out to demonstrate.”