By Munir K. Nasser
Chief Correspondent, Washington, DC
Albawaba.com
Hopes for a quick resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were revived Wednesday with both Barak and Arafat saying they have accepted the Clinton peace plan with reservations.
This move was followed by Israel agreeing to send chief negotiator Gilead Sher to Washington on Thursday for discussions on reducing the violence, a step that is expected to lead to direct talks. He is expected to confer with US mediators Dennis Ross and Aaron Miller on whether a basis exists for new talks with the Palestinians. But Israel insisted that Sher would only be in Washington to discuss halting the violence and not to revive peace talks with the Palestinians.
White House spokesman P.J. Crowley said, "We're not going to resume negotiations, we're not going to have a summit, unless we are confident of success.” Another senior official told reporters the Palestinians would also send an official in the next few days to talk to the American mediators.
According to press reports, both sides will send negotiation teams to Washington on Saturday in order to begin finalizing the agreement.
White House officials said the fact that Barak and Arafat agreed to the parameters laid out by Clinton means the two sides have now agreed to Clinton’s proposals as the new “basis for future negotiations” but neither side has technically agreed to an “outline” or a “framework.”
White House Press Secretary Jake Siewert said Arafat's response came following two meetings with Clinton at the White House on Tuesday and in a phone conversation with President Clinton on Wednesday. "This is obviously a work in progress," Siewert said. Arafat "expressed some support for the President's ideas last night and we had another discussion with him this morning. Chairman Arafat told the President that he had accepted the President's parameters; at the same time, he expressed some reservations. That represents a step forward," Siewert said.
Siewert said Clinton also talked for about 35 to 40 minutes by phone with Barak on Wednesday morning. "In the coming days we'll discuss the reservations that both sides have expressed, their interpretations of the President's ideas with each side separately. We'll work to see whether we can reconcile these interpretations in a way that allows us to move forward," Siewert said.
State Department Richard Boucher told reporters the next step for the US is to work with both sides to try to reconcile their reservations. “We see a step forward here, we see the possibility of further progress, we see the need to be serious about this discussion and make sure that we can get to acceptance of the basic parameters of a negotiation from both sides, that is what would constitute a groundwork for the tough negotiating that has to take place,” he noted.
Edward Abington, consultant to the Palestinian Authority in Washington, said he was told by Palestinian officials that President Clinton pressed Arafat quite hard on ending the violence and cooperating on security issues with Israel. “My understanding the Palestinians are ready to resume that kind of cooperation,” he told NPR Radio in Washington. He said the most important thing to curb the violence is to resume the security cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian security services. “This cooperation was really extremely effective in curbing acts of terrorism. That can be resumed quickly and I hope it will be resumed,” he said.
Abington said the Palestinians would like to see maps about what the Israelis have in mind. “They are willing to negotiate those maps as part of the negotiations,” he said. He stressed that the negotiations will take place in Washington, once the Israeli government agrees to go forward.
Diplomatic sources in Washington believe the Palestinians, though showing willingness to negotiate, are planning to sit out the final weeks of the Clinton administration and wait for a fresh start under President George W. Bush, even if it means Israel’s leadership will fall to right-wing Likud leader Ariel Sharon.
A senior State Department official told ABC News he doesn’t believe Clinton can pull off a deal in the short amount of time he has remaining. He said, however, the work Clinton has done is significant. “I now truly believe that the compromise proposal he has laid out will be the basis for a peace agreement,” he said.
Anthony Cordesman, Director of the Middle East Program at the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington, said he expects a summit will be held between Barak and Arafat before Clinton leaves office on January 20. “I think the odds of succeeding will probably be less than people may imagine because the Palestinians have very deep reservations on the right of return and the control of the Holy sites,” he told NPR Radio.
Cordesman noted that if Barak is replaced by a new prime minister who opposes peace “then the prospects for any kind of peace will be almost negligible,” he said. “And similarly, every week or month that goes on, Arafat power will be weakened, and more Palestinians will be polarized around the use of violence, and the Arab world will become more hostile to Israel,” he explained.
Cordesman believes President-elect George Bush will have to approach the Middle East differently from Clinton. “If these talks fail, it is going to be a long and difficult process to get people back to the table. And if George Bush has to deal with Ariel Sharon as prime minister of Israel, the whole framework of peace negotiations changes,” he stressed.
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