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Internal politics overshadowed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks |
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May 2, 2000 EILAT, Israel, MAY 1 (AP) - Squabbling in Israel's ruling coalition and Palestinian protests over the planned expansion of a Jewish West Bank settlement overshadowed the latest round of negotiations for a final peace treaty.
Negotiators began a second day of talks Monday in this Red Sea resort after a strained opening round.
The Palestinians were angered by the news that Israel plans to build 174 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim. They said this was a sign that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak either would not or could not make the concessions necessary for peace.
Barak is struggling for support from parties in his coalition who oppose territorial concessions to the Palestinians.
U.S. Mideast envoy Dennis Ross was to arrive in the region Tuesday to take on the role as mediator in the talks. The negotiations are aimed at achieving a framework for a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinians, along with agreement on the scale and location of the last interim troop withdrawal that Israel has promised to make before final borders are drawn.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said a disclosure Sunday that Israel has approved the expansion of the Maale Adumim settlement was destroying Palestinian trust in Barak.
"The prime minister is concentrating not on the peace talks but on his coalition talks," Erekat said.
The Palestinians hope to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967. They see Jewish settlements there as dangerous obstacles.
The resumption of talks was delayed five hours on Sunday while the Palestinians registered a bitter complaint over the expansion with Israeli negotiator Oded Eran.
After less than two hours of talks, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators took a break from the tense atmosphere for a swim together in the hotel's outdoor pool.
Talks resumed early Monday, with the morning session to focus on the framework agreement, followed by an afternoon meeting on the final Israeli troop redeployment.
Barak, meanwhile, lobbied Cabinet ministers to support his plan to give three Arab suburbs of Jerusalem to the Palestinians as a trust-building gesture. Hard-liners have warned that the move would give the Palestinians a foothold in the disputed city, part of which they claim for a future capital.
Jewish settler leaders said they would launch a new campaign to try to stop the transfer of the three neighborhoods, including Abu Dis, which borders Jerusalem.
Benny Kashriel, head of the Settlers' Council, said the campaign would emphasize the proximity of Abu Dis to Jerusalem's holy sites.
"Abu Dis is 1,000 steps from the Western Wall," Kashriel said, referring to Judaism's holiest shrine.
Barak said the handover was necessary to give the Palestinians territorial integrity, something they want for statehood.
"It is proper that the (areas) be under Palestinian security control," Barak told reporters. "This does not weaken Jerusalem."
Under the plan, which is expected to be proposed at Wednesday's Cabinet meeting, the villages would move from joint control to full Palestinian control.
Yisrael B'Aliya, an immigrants party, and the National Religious Party, a patron of Jewish settlers, said they opposed the gesture, and the NRP said it would bolt the government if Barak went ahead with it.
Late Sunday, Barak met with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of his largest coalition partner, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. Barak is trying to win Shas' support for his peace policies by handing over funds to Shas' religious school system - a move opposed by the Meretz party, another coalition partner.
Barak aide and Cabinet Minister Haim Ramon said that without coalition support, Barak would not be able to hand over the villages.
Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said Israel's electoral system, which he described as a "a democracy gone mad," forced Barak to court Shas because the system gives undue power to smaller parties seeking to extract concessions from the prime minister.
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