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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 April - 3 May 2000 Issue No. 479 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 April - 3 May 2000 Issue No. 479
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Staking out the next round
By Graham UsherAt the level of language the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations would seem to be moving ahead or, as the tired old journalist cliché has it, "on track."
Following his meetings last week with Presidents Clinton and Hosni Mubarak, Yasser Arafat assured his people there would be "no delay to the deadlines" for Israel and the Palestinians reaching a Framework Agreement on Oslo's final status issues by mid-May and a fully-fledged peace treaty by September. Israeli leader Ehud Barak said he was "hopeful and optimistic that we will see highly intensive negotiations in the next few months." And King Abdullah, meeting Barak in Eilat on 23 April in his first trip to Israel as monarch, believed "this year will witness a breakthrough that will give hope to the Palestinians and the justice they seek and to the Israeli people the security they desire."
At the level of actions on the ground, the level most Palestinians' experience, things appear to be sliding from bad to worse. As Arafat was touching base and Abdullah setting sail, the Israeli army destroyed five Palestinian homes and tore down 48 tents in the Jerusalem villages of Issawiyyeh and Anata. It said that the houses had been built "illegally" on "state land" earmarked for the "development" of the already mammoth West Bank settlement of Maale Adumin, the largest settlement in the occupied territories which commands some 50,000 dunums for a settler population of 24,000.
Palestinians in Issawiyyeh say they have deeds to the land from the Ottoman period and that the homes are needed for a village of 8,000 people but with only 664 dunums allocated for residences. Arriving on the scene early Sunday, PLO executive member with responsibility for Jerusalem, Faisal Al-Husseini, departed from the protocol shown by the region's leaders. "The destruction testifies to the type of peace Israel is interested in," he said. "We should now have actions on the ground. We should all move to protect, cultivate and build our land."
Arafat exchanges warm greeting with Jordan's King Abdullah in Ramallah on Tuesday
(photo: AP)
Actions on the ground followed. On 24 April, Palestinians from Jerusalem's Kalandia refugee camp took to the streets and a commercial strike was enforced on Palestinian shopkeepers in occupied East Jerusalem. But the protests had little to do with the demolitions in Issawiyyeh and Anata. Rather they were expressions of outrage by Arafat and Al-Husseini's Fatah movement, demonstrating against the sentencing the day before of five local Fatah activists to four years' imprisonment by the Palestinian Authority's "state security court" for an assault last month on PA Environment Minister, Yusif Abu Safiya. The contrast between the strength of reaction over the sentences and the minimal Palestinian response mounted against the demolitions had even PLO officials muttering that Fatah supporters in Jerusalem were showing "a somewhat skewed sense of priorities."
It is unclear what priorities were discussed between Clinton and Arafat at their White House meeting on 20 April. What is clear is that the next round of final status negotiations due to start in Eilat on 30 April will evince a "greater American involvement" in the Oslo process. It will be manifested by the presence of US special envoy Dennis Ross and his deputy Aaron Miller throughout the 12 days of talks and perhaps also by another visit to the region by Secretary of State Madeline Albright.
But there is no sign as yet whether "greater involvement" will register a change in the US role from one of "postman" for the two sides to one of "active participant" in the negotiations, the activity Arafat has long sought for the American sponsor. So far the American stance has been simply to urge Israel and the Palestinians to be "creative" and "flexible" in their positions so that the "gaps" between them can be "bridged."
Barak has already signalled the limits of his flexibility. At his meeting with Clinton on 11 April and in comments to his cabinet, he has made it pretty clear that Israel is ready to recognise a Palestinian state on between 65-80 per cent of the West Bank in exchange for Palestinian "compromises." These include giving up any claim of sovereignty in East Jerusalem, renouncing the right of return of refugees to their homes, lands and properties inside Israel and agreeing to Israel's annexation of large swathes of the West Bank to keep "settlement blocs" under its sovereignty. The official Palestinian response to these kites has been to shoot them down before they fly.
"We've already made our compromises," PLO head of negotiations, Mahmoud Abbass, told Voice of Palestine radio on 18 April. "We conceded almost all of historic Palestine when we accepted Resolution 242, accommodating ourselves to 21 per cent of the territory in the country. This is the utmost we can concede. PLO negotiator for the interim agreement, Saeb Erekat, rehearsed a similar theme in Washington. "There will be a Palestinian state with the 4 June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital," he said on 21 April. "Decisions have to be reached at this moment of truth, and I believe this is the time for Israel to make these decisions."
Clearly one motive behind such statements is for the Palestinian negotiators to stake out their maximal positions before the next round of the final status talks. But Palestinian analysts also detect another motive behind their leadership's firm adherence to what has long been the Palestinian national consensus -- fear for their standing in the opinion of their people. Last month, a Palestinian survey showed that Arafat now commanded the support of less than 40 per cent of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, his lowest rating since he returned to the occupied territories in 1994. "It means," says Palestinian analyst, Jamil Hilal, who works for the Palestinian institute which conducted the poll, "that Arafat's support base is now confined to that of his Fatah movement." And, as the protests in Kalandia and strike in Jerusalem showed, not even all of them.
