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Talks Pursued As Palestinians Arrest Palestinian For Collaboration With Israel
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Senior Israeli and Palestinian negotiators moved toward new talks Saturday amid efforts by U.S. President Bill Clinton to hold a summit in his final days in office, as Palestinian security forces arrested a Palestinian for allegedly helping Israeli intelligence track down and kill a member of leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
Clinton is known to want to broker a peace deal before his term ends January 20th, while Israel's caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak faces elections in February.
Clinton spoke by telephone with Arafat for 45 minutes "on the ways to save the peace process and restart negotiations before President Clinton's term ends," Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina said.
But the White House said that while the outgoing president was trying to help restart talks, there was nothing on the table.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said that the Palestinians wanted a three-way summit that will define the Palestinian territories' final status.
But, Erakat said, any negotiations "must be held in a summit aimed at finishing what was started at the Camp David summit," the failed July meeting of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Barak and Clinton.
At Camp David, Barak reportedly offered the Palestinians limited sovereignty over east Jerusalem and a military retreat from more than 90% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Arafat judged the proposals insufficient and insisted on Palestinian control over the Jerusalem mosque compound, an area holy to both Muslims and Jews.
The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported that Clinton is now proposing a "Camp David Plus" deal, under which Israel would give the Palestinians full sovereignty over the holy site in exchange for the Palestinians renouncing their demand that refugees be allowed to return.
Meanwhile, Israeli radio reported that Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami and Barak's cabinet director Gilad Sher will meet late night with Erakat and Colonel Mohammed Dahlan, the head of preventative security for the Gaza Strip.
Ben Ami held a meeting late Thursday in Gaza City with Arafat, in the highest level Israeli-Palestinian meeting in two and a half months.
Talks continued Saturday, as Erakat met with U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem John Herbst, along with representatives from Germany and Norway, reiterating the Palestinian position that Israel must comply with U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338, which call for its withdrawal from occupied territories.
"If Israel does not accept these resolutions, it will not be possible to hold a summit like the one at Camp David," Erakat said in a statement.
While there was little violence Saturday - even as six Palestinian victims of Friday's clashes with Israeli troops were buried - Dahlan did not rule out a continued uprising during talks.
"I see no contradiction between the pursuit of the Intifada and political negotiations," Dahlan told reporters.
"No one has the right to demand a halt to the Intifada, which must continue until the Palestinians get their rights," he said.
The two sides also know that in just one month they will be dealing with the new U.S. administration of George W. Bush, which the Palestinians quietly hope will favor them more.
Bush said Saturday that Middle East peace must be based "on a secure Israel."
"But at the same time, we have to do everything we can to deal with the aspirations of the Palestinians and the other nations in the region who have an interest in this," said retired general Colin Powell, Bush's nominee for secretary of state.
In Israel, where elections will be held in two months, interior minister and prominent dove Yossi Beilin said: "I hope that we will be able to reach an accord which Prime Minister Ehud Barak can present to the people, transforming the elections for prime minister into a referendum on peace."
Beilin said the resumption of negotiations, minus an agreement, would still allow Barak to present a credible "peace project" to the electorate in the face of the right-wing's bid for power.
But Israel's hardliners warn that Barak lacks the authority to negotiate with the Palestinians.
"It is inconceivable that a minority government supported by less than one-quarter of the Knesset [parliament] could commit itself to anything in the name of the Israeli people," hardline former premier Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published on Friday.
Netanyahu, who was soundly beaten by Barak in elections last year, outpaces Barak in voter-intention polls by around 20 percentage points.
Netanyahu, who has made it known he wants his old job back, is barred from running because he is not a member of parliament. However, legislation has been introduced in parliament that could remove that obstacle.
Legally, nothing stops Barak from negotiating, but chances of a breakthrough in such a short period of time are slim, especially with the continued bloodletting, which has cost the lives of 336 people.
The latest victim was a 68-year-old Palestinian man whose body was found in the West Bank on Saturday. Hospital sources said he was shot by Israelis during clashes the day before.
Meanwhile, Palestinian security forces have arrested a Palestinian for allegedly helping Israeli intelligence track down and kill a member of leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, a security source said Saturday.
Police "have recently arrested a Palestinian from Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on suspicion of supplying Israeli intelligence services with information on the whereabouts of Jamal Abdel Razeq, a Fatah activist," the source said.
Abdel Razeq and three other Palestinians were killed November 22nd when an Israeli tank opened fire on two vehicles near the Jewish settlement of Morag, a frequent focus of protests in the southern Gaza Strip.
The source said the Palestinians were killed "when an Israeli vehicle caught two cars near Rafah. Soldiers came out and fired more than 100 bullets toward them."
Palestinian police are questioning the suspect, said the source, who declined to identify the person.
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