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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 October 2000 Issue No. 503 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 October 2000 Issue No. 503
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Books Interview Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The real stakes
It was the eleventh hour when, on Monday, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak deferred "for a few days" his ultimatum that Yasser Arafat halt the Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories or face the full might of the Israeli army. The lull has so far produced three distinct consequences.The first was that while mass protests raged on in the West Bank and Gaza the armed attacks on soldiers and Jewish settlements appeared to taper off, amid reports that Arafat had imposed a ceasefire on his security forces and fighters belonging to the Fatah tanzim organisation. On the other hand, the deferral was met with a violent Jewish backlash as Israeli Jews attacked Palestinians in several Jewish-Arab cities, torched a mosque in Jaffa, and killed at least three Palestinians in the West Bank, including the killing by severe burning and axe blows to the head of Issam Hamad, a Palestinian from Umm Safa village near Ramallah.
Second, in Gaza and Jerusalem the hiatus was filled with frenetic diplomatic activity. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Barak and Arafat hosted United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, European Union representative Javier Solana and British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. All were in town to pull what was once known as the "peace process" out of the war it has more accurately become.
Annan met with Barak and Arafat on both days in an attempt to "lessen the level of violence" in the occupied territories. And on Wednesday he flew to Lebanon and Syria to prevent the "violence" becoming a fully-fledged regional war. There his main business will be to broker the release of the three Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbullah guerrillas on 7 October. And his first task will be to seek independent verification for his belief that the soldiers are still alive.
On Tuesday, Hizbullah spokesman Muwafaq Jammal said such information would only be forthcoming with the release of 19 Lebanese prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons. As for the actual release of the three soldiers, Hizbullah "might have another price," he said. Barak replied Israel would hold Lebanon and, "dominantly", Syria responsible for the fate of the soldiers.
Finally, there are truly the last-ditch efforts by President Bill Clinton to resolve the destruction of the Oslo process in a way that serves Israel's interests. On Tuesday he said he would be "ready" to fly to the region as early as Thursday to help fix an emergency summit between Barak and Arafat.
Israel has said it would respond positively to the summit on condition violence ends in the occupied territories, Arafat signs a new security agreement with Israel and the CIA and resumes negotiations on the basis of the ideas broached at the Camp David summit in July. In return Barak intimated on Tuesday he might be prepared to widen any commission of enquiry, suggesting the involvement of an EU representative and perhaps Norway.
In Cairo, during an hour-long meeting with his top aides yesterday, President Hosni Mubarak urged Israel's leaders to "stop being arrogant, and carefully and wisely reassess their [policies]," to avoid further bloodshed in the region. The meeting was the second of its kind in 48 hours to review the explosive regional situation provoked by unending Israeli aggression against Palestinian civilians.
The president also reviewed Cairo's position regarding the US-proposed summit bringing together the Americans, Egyptians, Palestinians and Israelis. He said that prior to holding such a summit "the right conditions" must prevail. These include: withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian territories; an end to Israel's ultimatums and threats against the PA or any other country; a pledge that "aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Haram Al-Sharif, as represented by Sharon's visit, would not be repeated"; a readiness to accept the formation of an international fact-finding committee to investigate the circumstances "which led to the current deterioration" and making the commitee's findings public; and finally that the four-way summit would again open the door for a resumption of negotiations on the status of East Jerusalem and Al-Haram Al-Sharif.
UP IN ARMS: As Israel's occupation troops continue to besiege the Palestinians with heavy artillery, this seemingly indomitable people continues to resist with the only weapons at its disposal. In Rafah, the words "Jerusalem is ours" are scrawled across a wall; like the emotion in this young man's eyes, the message is clear (photo: AFP)
"Israel must accept all these conditions," noted Mubarak. "If it does not, Egypt cannot host the four-way summit." The president stressed that Cairo was willing to host a summit only if it was preceded by "a changed reality on the ground." Mubarak conveyed his reservation to US President Bill Clinton in a written message and several phone conversations, adding that Egypt would "welcome any presidential action by the Americans to contain the situation," or a Clinton visit to Egypt "at any time."
In Washington, a US administration source told Al-Ahram Weekly that President Clinton is becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation. Clinton, the source said, was hoping to be able to stop the violence and restart negotiations but "there is not much hope that this is going to happen any time soon, and President Clinton is not sure that he is the person who can make it happen."
Meanwhile, in Damascus on Tuesday both Foreign Minister Amr Moussa and his Syrian counterpart Farouk El-Sharaa insisted that the only summit worth talking about now is the Arab summit scheduled to take place in Cairo on 21 and 22 of this month.
While details of the summit's mandate remain unclear, Arab leaders who come to Cairo will certainly be considering ways of supporting the Palestinians.
"We have taught ourselves the lesson not to expect more of the Arabs than they can realistically offer," Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath told the Weekly in a telephone interview. According to Shaath what should come out of this summit is "concrete political and economic action vis-à-vis Israel and the US." The position was spelt out more bluntly by Libyan leader Muammar El-Qaddafi, who demanded a total freeze on all Arab diplomatic and economic relations with Israel.
For his part, Foreign Minister Moussa told reporters that the agenda of the summit remains subject to serious debate among participating Arab countries. While some believe it should be limited to examining potential diplomatic action to support the Palestinian cause, particularly in relation to Muslim holy sites, within the framework of negotiations, others argue the summit should have a bigger agenda, including an examination of inter-Arab disputes, top of which comes the issue of Iraq.
Tomorrow Moussa is planning to visit both Riyadh and Kuwait to sound out views on the summit, the final agenda of which will be fixed at the Arab foreign ministers meeting scheduled in Cairo on the eve of the summit itself.
It will, though, be the outcome of the intensive international efforts that have brought almost every key international diplomat to the Middle East that will ultimately determine the Arab summit's agenda. And in the tussle of the summits what is at stake is whether Clinton and Barak will succeed in imposing on Arafat conditions he already refused at Camp David, New York and Paris, or whether the Arabs will finally come together to say that the only conditions for peace are full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories (whether in Gaza, the West Bank or the Golan Heights), Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
Graham Usher in Jerusalem; Hoda Tawfiq in Washington; Nevine Khalil, Dina Ezzat and Sherine Bahaa in Cairo
Related stories:
'We will not be bullied'
Summit call 5 - 11 October 2000
Sharon's calling card 5 - 11 October 2000
For they shall inherit the earth 5 - 11 October 2000
'Why?' 5 - 11 October 2000
See also The end of Oslo by Edward Said
