Cabinet, Briefed on Peace Talks, Appears Ready to Make Concessions

The Israeli Cabinet appears to be ready to make far-reaching concessions to both the Syrians and Palestinians.

Briefing the Cabinet on the peace talks in Washington, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said Sunday that he is ready to hand over authority to Palestinians in a number of areas, including education, health, finance, police and water.

But a majority of ministers rejected a proposal by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to hold early elections in the territories for a Palestinian self-governing authority.

The opposing ministers pointed out that the Palestinians themselves have not requested elections, because they are aware of the difficulties a referndum could cause, including internal power struggles and a delay in the peace process.

Environment Minister Yossi Sarid of the left-wing Meretz bloc suggested that Israel declare its readiness to negotiate with any organization, including the Palestine Liberation Organization, after a three-year period of autonomy, provided that the group prove itself to have acted constructively during that time period.

Police Minister Moshe Shahal spoke enthusiastically in support of Israel giving up the entire Golan Heights in exchange for full peace with the Syrians, including a guarantee of secure borders and full diplomatic relations.

In other business, the Cabinet further relaxed the general closure on the administered territories, raising to 33,000 the number of Palestinians allowed to work in Israel proper.

But only half the number of permits are being used by Palestinians, who are under pressure in the territories not to return to work in Israel unless the closure is lifted totally.

To date, 15,000 workers have been given security clearance and been approved for entry.

U.S. TO PROVIDE ECONOMIC AID

The closure of the territories, imposed to curb Palestinian attacks against Israelis, has caused a severe labor shortage crisis in Israel.

The monthlong closure has virtually paralyzed the construction industry. Not only have building contractors failed to honor commitments, but real estate agents have already detected an increase in the prices of housing.

Although the Cabinet continued to lift the ban by incremental degrees, it reaffirmed the decision not to return to the situation that existed before the closure, when some 120,000 Palestinians entered Israel proper daily.

The Cabinet decided that work permits be given only to heads of families with children, in the belief that these individuals would be less likely to be potential terrorists. Entry will probably be allowed only to those who are at least 25 years old.

The four ministers from Meretz said they would support the continued closure only if unemployment benefits were paid to those Palestinians who had held jobs in Israel, just as an Israeli worker would be entitled to benefits.

However, the majority of ministers opposed that condition, saying they preferred creating jobs inside the territories to paying unemployment benefits.

The economy in the territories may soon get a boost from the United States, according to Knesset member Abdel Wahab Darawshe of the Arab Democratic Party.

Darawshe, who just returned from a visit to the United States, discussed an American economic development plan for the territories with Martin Indyk, the National Security Council’s top adviser on the Middle East.

According to Darawshe, Indyk said the Clinton administration had prepared a plan for an immediate aid package of $24 million and was discussing a comprehensive aid package that would be a joint effort with the European Community and the Arab Gulf states.

Darawshe said Indyk told him the plan would be presented at the next round of multilateral economic talks, due to open in Rome this week.

Indyk told Darawshe he considered the situation in the territories, under the closure, to be a time bomb dangerous not only to the Palestinians, but to the entire region and to American interests in the Middle East.