Clinton to pull a rabbit out of Palestinian-Israeli talks
No detailed official comments by the Israelis or Palestinians have been released about the status of the five day old Palestinian-Israeli negotiations regarding the implementation of the signed Oslo accord.
Commenting on the ongoing progress in the US-sponsored negotiations, US State Department spokesman James Rubin said, "It is not unusual to have setbacks" as a result of the attack on Israeli bus by a Palestinian, adding that the US is taking matters "one meeting at a time... and one day at a time."
Arafat and Netanyahu have jointly condemned this attack as the work of extremists trying to ruin the negotiations.
There is an established record of Israel using each one of these incidents (when Palestinians attack Israelis, and not when Israelis attack Palestinians) to either renege on implementing signed agreements, take over additional Palestinian houses, or delay moving forward with the peace process, usually reiterating that Israel wants "100 percent" security guarantees.
This was the subject of Arafat's early comments that Palestine can guarantee 100 percent effort in fighting terrorism, but Palestine cannot guarantee 100 percent results. Palestinian observers have noted these patterns of negotiations and Palestinians in general have concluded that Netanyahu will use any excuse to avoid making a deal.
Though the tone of Rubin's comments may have sounded negative, Rubin warned about exaggerating the differences between the two sides as unwarranted, saying that progress is being made.
While the Israelis want the talks to focus on security measures and to have the right to extradite Palestinians to Israel, a subject that the Palestinians want reciprocity on, the Palestinians also want to talk about vital national economic issues relating to airports and harbors as well as the release of prisoners and the right of passage for Palestinians between their disjointed territories.
Rubin refused to be more specific about the progress of the individual committees dealing with the specific issues, but Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dore Gold, said that the focus of the talks has shifted completely to security issues, implying that Palestinian issues have been shoved aside.
This may be the reason for some of the difficulty in the negotiations that may force a scaling-back of expectations about what can be achieved at this summit. Rubin said, "It remains open as to what the results will be of these meetings."
US and Palestinian hopes were for a comprehensive agreement on the coming third phase withdrawal as per the Oslo agreement, so that the difficulties experienced with the ongoing second-phase withdrawal would not have to be relived.
Though Palestinians see Netanyahu as obfuscating in his negotiations, Palestinians also see Netanyahu as fearing the announcement of a Palestinian state on May 4 1999 under his watch, and having this state recognized by the USA. This may be one motivation that is behind some of the progress being made.
But other Palestinians see Netanyahu as wanting the negotiations to fail, and feel that if a Palestinian state is announced, he would go ahead and annex the occupied Palestinian territories currently controlled by Israeli forces, which is what Israeli extremists on the right want.
A second-phase withdrawal of 13 percent will be taking place after these negotiations conclude, as both sides indicated that they are beyond this issue. It remains to be seen whether the third and final phase withdrawal will be a similar ordeal as the second phase has been, or whether the parties involved will settle their differences at this summit.
Clinton, having defied skeptics on the Irish problem where he successfully managed to pull a historic agreement, is joining and engaging himself today once again with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders to bridge the outstanding gaps. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has said that the president will be "deeply" involved in these negotiations.
Clinton who described the two sides saying, "the mistrust is deep" and that an agreement is the best way to ensure "that terrorism has no future", will be rejoining the talks today as they near the end.
James Rubin spoke about King Hussein of Jordan joining the talks in an undetermined role. With the King, who has good standing with all sides invited to join the talks today, the pressure will intensify for a conclusion to the talks, and the stage will be set for Clinton to pull another hopped for rabbit out of his hat.