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TITLE: No Chance of a Deal Before Clinton Goes, Isrealis Say |
AUTHOR: Ross Dunn |
PUB: Sydney Morning Herald |
DATE: December 30, 2000 |
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A confidante of the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, said yesterday there was no possibility that US-brokered peace talks would end the conflict with the Palestinians soon. The Absorption Minister, Mrs Yuli Tamir, was speaking as Mr Barak ordered a new closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, following bombings by Islamic militants that killed two Israelis. Mrs Tamir said it had never been Mr Barak's goal to reach a final peace treaty with the Palestinians before President Bill Clinton leaves office on January20. Rather, she said, talks were being held to produce a framework for a negotiated settlement. "The only thing we can achieve from now until January is to find or define the basic principles that would be the basis of further negotiations before we reach an agreement," she said. "It is not a situation where we are up to sign an agreement. If we can agree on anything, we can agree on the basic principles, which then will have to be developed into an agreement." Mr Barak vowed to press on with his mission to reach a settlement with the Palestinians, despite the killing of two Israelis by a roadside bomb in the Gaza Strip and the injuring of 14 others in an explosion on a Tel Aviv bus. At the same time, Mr Barak ordered the army to step up "initiated activities" to prevent more attacks, which is taken in Israel to be a euphemism for opening fire on or arresting Palestinian militants before they carry out bombings or shootings. At least 345 people have been killed in the Palestinian uprising against Israel, which has entered its fourth month. Most of the dead are Palestinians, but at least 41 Israelis have died. There seems little hope that the fighting will be halted soon despite several efforts to enforce a ceasefire. In recent incidents, Palestinian gunmen seriously injured an Israeli driver in an ambush in the West Bank. Palestinian snipers also opened fire on an Israeli school bus carrying Jewish settler children near the divided West Bank town of Hebron. Despite the violence, an adviser to the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, said a summit with Mr Barak in Egypt was still possible as early as next week. A planned meeting on Thursday by the two leaders and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was called off without official explanation. But Mr Arafat's adviser, Mr Bassam Abu Sharif, said that attempts were being made to reschedule a summit next week in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. He added that this could set the stage for further meetings in Washington. However, Israeli officials said the chances of a meeting between Mr Barak and Mr Arafat were slim unless Mr Arafat was willing to "provide a clear answer to Mr Clinton's proposals". Mr Clinton said the two sides had legitimate questions about his plan but stressed "there is no point in our talking further unless both sides accept the parameters I have laid out". He added that, despite Palestinian claims to the contrary, his latest proposals went much further than those presented at the Camp David summit in July, which ended in failure."The best chance they have to make an agreement is the next three weeks," he said. "We are much closer than we were at Camp David. But there are still differences, and, you know, we are just waiting." END |