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Israelis & Palestinians heading to Washington to renew peace talks |
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December 19, 2000
JERUSALEM-- (UNB/AP) - Faced with ongoing violence and looming deadlines, Israeli and Palestinian delegations planned to fly to Washington on Monday to restart peace talks that had broken down during the nearly three months of fighting. "I don't want to raise hopes that a deal is in hand and all that's left is to sign it," Israel's Justice Minister Yossi Beilin told Israel's army radio. "But in my opinion, there is a good chance to reach a comprehensive final status agreement, a framework deal, in the next few weeks." Both sides had said negotiations would not resume until there was a halt, or at least a substantial reduction in the violence, which has claimed more than 330 lives since the end of September, most of them Palestinian. But with U.S. President Bill Clinton leaving office in a month, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak facing an uphill battle to win re-election in February, efforts to reach a comprehensive settlement have taken on a sense of urgency. The two sides are expected to first meet separately with the Americans beginning Tuesday, and if those talks go well, the Israelis and Palestinians could then sit face-to-face, with the Americans also present. Two highly charged issues are expected to be discussed: the status of east Jerusalem and the possible return of millions of Palestinians now living in neighboring states. Despite seven years of negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, those two issues are so sensitive that they had been set aside until recently. No final political settlement can be reached without resolving those issues. Israel claims sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, but the Palestinians are demanding to establish the capital of a Palestinian state in the traditionally Arab eastern sector. The Palestinians are also demanding that Palestinians who left their homes during previous Mideast wars be allowed to return. The two sides held intense talks in July at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David, but those talks ended without agreement, and no top-level negotiations have been held since. Neither Barak nor Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will take part in this round of talks, though the aim is to make enough progress to justify a summit between the leaders in the coming weeks. The Israeli side will be led by Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, while the Palestinian team will include senior negotiators Saeb Erekat and Yasser Abed Rabbo. Arafat left open the possibility of a summit at some point with Barak, who is desperately trying to patch together a peace accord in the seven weeks remaining before he faces re-election. "If there is a need to, why not?" Arafat said Sunday when asked about the possibility of meeting the Israeli prime minister. And at a meeting with leftist Israeli lawmakers who traveled to Gaza to see him, he said: "Let's work for peace." The renewal of peace talks has not stopped the violence. Five Palestinians were killed Sunday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Two Palestinian teenagers were shot Monday morning in front of their high school near the West Bank town of Nablus. One of the boys, 14-year-old Muhammad Hazim was hit in the back and seriously wounded, said school principal Ahmed Ramadan. Palestinian witnesses said Jewish settlers pulled up in a car and opened fire without provocation. The Israeli army said Palestinian youths had been stoning Israeli cars on the main road in the area, and an Israeli citizen opened fire with a pistol. The spasm of fighting broke out in late September after right-wing Israeli politician Ariel Sharon made a visit to the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's walled Old City, the third-holiest shrine in Islam. Al Aqsa is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle for sovereignty over Jerusalem. The disputed mosque compound is built on the ruins of the ancient Jewish Temple, Judaism's most sacred site. Islamic religious authorities have day-to-day control of the compound, but Israel claims sovereignty over it.
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