Israeli Foreign Minister Objects to Sharon’s Role in Negotiations

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition crisis took a new twist this week with the disclosure that hard-line Likud Knesset member Ariel Sharon was engaged in secret talks with the Palestinians.

Foreign Minister David Levy canceled a scheduled Sunday meeting with Netanyahu aimed at resolving their differences. Part of the crisis in their relationship has been the foreign minister’s complaint that he was being left out of political decision-making.

Levy, along with eight other coalition members, stayed away from last week’s no-confidence vote in the Knesset, which the Netanyahu government survived.

During two meetings following the vote, Netanyahu promised to let Levy lead the Palestinian negotiations, which have been deadlocked for more than three months.

However, Netanyahu never mentioned the June 16 meeting between National Infrastru cture Minister Sharon and the second in command to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, at Sharon’s ranch in southern Israel.

According to an Israel Television report last Friday, Sharon and Abbas, better known as Abu-Mazen, both described their talks as positive and agreed to continue the dialogue.

Knesset member Abdel Wahab Darawshe, of the Arab Democratic Party-United Arab List, said he arranged the meeting and hoped that it “would break the impasse the failed policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have led us to.”

Abu-Mazen refused to comment on the meeting.

However, sources close to Abu-Mazen said that it was Sharon who in fact leaked news of the talks in an effort to strengthen his own image as someone who could be involved in negotiations with the Palestinians.

Sharon is the leading candidate to be named finance minister, a post vacated two weeks ago by Likud Knesset member Dan Meridor. One of Sharon’s conditions for assuming the post is to be made a member of the Inner Security Cabinet, which is comprised of the prime minister, foreign minister and defense minister.

Sources in Levy’s Gesher Party said the foreign minister was stuck in a difficult position — lacking the political leverage to bring down the government by leaving the coalition, but wanting to assert his influence in policy-making.

In another development, Israeli media reported Sunday that Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai met secretly last week with Nabil Sha’ath, a senior Palestinian Authority official.

Levy was aware of the meeting, which was held to discuss ways to renew negotiations, according to Israel Radio.

Meanwhile, Labor Knesset member Ephraim Sneh met Sunday with Arafat in Gaza. Sneh said afterwards that Arafat had pledged to deepen security cooperation with Israel, though he gave no details as to how or when that would be done.

The Palestinians cut off security cooperation in March in anger over Israel’s decision to begin building a new Jewish neighborhood at Har Homa in southeastern Jerusalem.