21 - 27 December 2000
Issue No.513
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 21 - 27 December 2000 Issue No.513 |
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Mission impossible?
The Palestinians and Israelis, having resumed talks in Washington with mediating Americans, each appear desperate to reach a Middle East peace agreement, and each for their own reasons. The Palestinians, though they are reluctant to make concessions, have suffered heavy casualties as well as enormous economic costs since the eruption of the Al-Aqsa Intifada on 28 September and the subsequent Israeli blockade of Palestinian territories. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, meanwhile, smarting under the brunt of the clashes, believes that a breakthrough with the Palestinians will shore up his chances in the prime ministerial elections, now scheduled for 6 February. For his part, US President Bill Clinton is seeking to crown his eight years in the White House with a milestone accord before he steps down on 20 January. Yet despite the potentially persuasive list of motives, many analysts believe this 11th hour pursuit of a settlement to be mission impossible.
As the Palestinian-American and Israeli-American talks got underway in Washington, President Hosni Mubarak met in Cairo yesterday with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat followed by Israeli envoy Yossi Sarid.
After the 90-minute Mubarak-Arafat meeting, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said that it was high time that Israel "reconsidered" its approach to peace negotiations. "We are still in the phase of consultations," he said, before stating that Egypt believes "progress can still be made" in the last days of the Clinton administration.
Mubarak, at an army Iftar banquet on Tuesday, insisted that any agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis must be based on a "clear recognition of Palestinian rights and Palestinian sovereignty over Al-Haram Al-Sharif."
Sarid, who conveyed a message from Barak to Mubarak, insisted Israeli negotiators would do their best to make the Washington talks successful, adding that without Egypt's constructive participation it will be very difficult to reach an agreement.
An Egyptian diplomat in Cairo described the Washington talks as a "reconnaissance mission. If successful, this diplomatic encounter can lead to high-level intensive negotiations with the aim of reaching an agreement before 20 January," the diplomat said.
The potential framework for a final agreement might be based on the joint Egyptian-Jordanian ideas conveyed to the Americans, the thrust of which is to secure an Israeli withdrawal to 27 September lines and turn the Intifada into a non-confrontational form of protest. This could then open the way to an agreement that does not exclude Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem, with the exception of the Jewish quarter and shrines, and ensure the right of return to the 1948 refugees.
"This could be presented by Arafat to the Palestinian people as a sufficient reward for the Intifada," commented an Arab diplomat in Cairo.
In Washington, though, top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Ereikat sounded a cautious note: "To be honest, I don't have high expectations because Barak continues to be intransigent about denying our rights and maintaining the Israeli military occupation of our land."
Palestinian sources in Washington told Al-Ahram Weekly that "the timing is critical and the challenges tremendous. Unless a final agreement meets with the aspirations of the Intifada it will be risky for the Palestinian Authority to accept it."
Israeli negotiators appeared more concerned about stopping the violence than dealing with its causes. "The main goal of the talks is to try to reduce the violence, stop incitement and restore calm," said Gilad Sher, a senior Barak aide.
Faced with a strong and united Palestinian, Arab and Muslim position on Jerusalem, the Barak government is reportedly seeking Palestinian concessions on another, equally paramount issue, the refugee problem.
According to semi-official Israeli sources, Israeli negotiators are seeking to trade "practical sovereignty" or "de facto control" over the Haram Al-Sherif compound for a renunciation by the PA of the refugees' right to return.
"Most vital for us is the renunciation by the Palestinians of the right of return of the refugees to 1948 territory," said Israeli cabinet minister Yuli Tamir. "This right of return is our greatest concern because we want to maintain the Jewish character and majority in Israel."
An Arab source involved in the consultations that led to the revival of talks told the Weekly in Washington that the American position appears to have developed since July's Camp David summit. The US is now convinced that any deal over Jerusalem has to recognise Palestinian control over Haram Al-Sharif while maintaining uninterrupted access for Jews to their holy places.
But, according to the source, Washington's consultations with both Palestinian and Israeli negotiators are leading nowhere: "Barak is weak, even weaker than at Camp David. How can he sell an agreement to the Knesset and to the Israeli people is an open question."
While the Washington talks, continuing today and possibly tomorrow, are expected to end in a trilateral meeting, a State Department spokesman said, Israeli troops have been continuing their brutal repression of the uprising. In the past week the Israeli army and settlers have killed 18 Palestinians, including three children, bringing the Palestinian death toll since the outbreak of the Intifada to 328.
By Nevine Khalil and Dina Ezzat in Cairo,
Hoda Tawfik in Washington, Khaled Amayreh in Jerusalem
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