1 - 7 February 2001
Issue No.519
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 1 - 7 February 2001 Issue No.519 |
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Campaigning in Taba
All parties involved in the six-day Palestinian-Israeli talks were aware that nothing concrete was expected from the so-called "intensive" and "serious" final status negotiations between the two sides which concluded at the Red Sea resort of Taba on Saturday. With only a few days left before Israel's premiership elections, it was clear to all that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak would not sign any agreement that could possibly be detrimental to his already weak position against right-wing Likud leader Ariel Sharon. Egypt sent a junior foreign ministry official to follow the talks, while the new US administration led by President George Bush watched from the sidelines.
Chiefs of the Palestinian and Israeli delegations at the Taba talks, Qurei and Ben Ami, having a "serious" discussion
(photo: Reuters)
Observers noted that an agreement would mean compromises from both sides, something which neither Barak nor Palestinian President Yasser Arafat are willing to offer at this critical time. The issues involved are the toughest yet to be resolved: Jerusalem, the right of return of millions of Palestinian refugees, Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories and security measures that would determine the degree of sovereignty of the future Palestinian state. Sharon's Likud will portray any major compromise by Barak as a sell-out. Concessions by Arafat will be seen as a betrayal of the nearly 400 martyrs killed since the Intifada began in late September.
Nevertheless, the Taba talks confirmed that the Palestinian leadership had decided to give Barak a push for the upcoming elections. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat stopped short of naming Barak, but warned that "if Sharon's offers in any negotiations are based on his electoral programme, it would be a plan for war and not for peace."
The first two days of the talks were spent agreeing on the agenda and establishing two, three, four or five committees. However, only a few hours after the first serious working day started on Tuesday, reports came through that two Israelis had been killed in the West Bank town of Tulkarm in revenge for the assassination of Fatah leader Thabet Thabet by Israeli snipers.
Dr Thabet was known as a peace activist in contact with the Israeli peace camp. As a result, the Palestinian negotiating team agreed to an Israeli demand for a two-day suspension of the talks. Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath commented, "We will continue talking because we want to stop these killings once and for all."
During the "holiday", one of the main concerns of the Palestinians was not to be filmed while partaking of the most innocuous of the sea-side resort's recreational activities; walking by the sea or smoking a shisha in one of the cafeterias of the five-star hotel where the talks were held. "We have to respect the feelings of our people, who are suffering siege and daily death," remarked member of the Palestinian negotiating team Hassan Asfour.
On Thursday night, the first meeting of the resumed talks was said to have been tense and abrupt. The Israelis, represented by acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami, leader of the leftist Meretz Party Yossi Sarid, Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and Barak's close adviser Gelad Sher, reportedly concentrated on security issues. Friday was their first "serious" working day.
According to Palestinian negotiators, the only point where some "progress" was made concerned Israel's withdrawal plan for the West Bank. The Chief Palestinian negotiator in Taba and head of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ahmed Qurei, said that Israel did offer "better" withdrawal maps, allowing the territorial integrity of the West Bank and reducing the number of settlements Israel wanted to annex. Barak also claimed this as a serious achievement, saying that for the first time Palestinians had agreed to allow Israel to annex settlements in the West Bank, going against their earlier demand that Israel must withdraw from all territories occupied in 1967.
As for Jerusalem, refugees and security arrangements, "the gaps remain very wide," said Qurei, better known as Abu Alaa. Israeli negotiators made the same offers they presented during the failed Camp David summit talks hosted by former US President Bill Clinton. They refused to accept the principle of "right of return," made a very complicated and nearly impossible offer to divide occupied East Jerusalem, and insisted on maintaining so-called early warning stations in the West Bank and troops along the border with Jordan that would allow them easily to reoccupy the area in case of any perceived threat to their security. Israel also requested sole control over Palestinian airspace and refused to consider emptying settlements built in East Jerusalem.
Despite these differences, Abu Alaa was convinced that the fact that there were serious talks about all this was a step forward. "Maybe we can reach an agreement after the elections," both Palestinian and Israeli negotiators repeated. A "Joint Concluding Statement" finally contained nothing but wishes for the future. "Given the circumstances and time constraints, it proved impossible to reach understandings on all issues," it read.
The concluding news conference was delayed for half an hour to coincide with the main news hour on Israeli television. Star reporters from the Israeli television were handed their own microphones to ask questions in Hebrew, while other reporters queuing up were completely left out.
With this setting in mind, Barak's decision on Saturday to suspend all talks with Palestinians and to cancel an expected meeting with Arafat in Davos or the Swedish capital, Stockholm, was not surprising. Talking to Arafat is bad for Barak's image in the eyes of Israel's right-wing voters, while an attempt to tell those who support peace in Israel that their prime minister was doing his best to reach an agreement was equally important.
"We took part in the talks knowing that no agreement would be reached," said one Palestinian negotiator. "But it is important to show the whole world -- the United States, the Europeans and others -- that it was not Palestinians who boycotted or obstructed peace talks. In return, we expect the same international community to help us if Sharon comes to power, obliging him to respect any agreements or understandings reached with his predecessor."
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