Although some differences remain regarding the substance of their talks, Israeli and Palestinian officials have agreed to resume negotiations on Monday.
First word of the new date for negotiations came early in the week from Nabil Sha’ath, chief Palestinian negotiator at the Cairo talks for implementing Palestinian self-rule.
Sha’ath, who was recently named minister of planning and international cooperation in the Palestinian governing authority, was visiting the newly autonomous regions of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.
With Maj. Gen. Amnon Shahak, the chief Israeli negotiator at the Cairo talks, at his side, Sha’ath told reporters in Gaza on Sunday of the new date, adding that the negotiations would signal a resumption of the peace process.
But there are disagreements regarding the agenda for the new round of talks.
The Palestinian side says it expects the talks to focus on the next stages of the peace process, including expanding self-rule to the rest of the West Bank.
But Israeli sources say there are issues in the current implementation of self-rule in Gaza and Jericho that still need to be resolved.
Shahak raised no objections when Sha’ath said the talks would focus on the next phase of Palestinian self-rule, but sources in Jerusalem later indicated that Israel wants a slower pace than Sha’ath seems to be anticipating.
The sources said Israeli officials regard the Gaza-Jericho phase as still in its testing stage and that Israel wants to see greater stability in the two autonomous zones before embarking on further progress.
Under the terms of the declaration of principles signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization last September in Washington, negotiations for the next stage of the Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative will fall under three phases.
First, negotiators will focus on what has been termed “early empowerment,” the expansion of Palestinian self-rule to the rest of the West Bank in a number of key areas of civil administration.
Second, there will be discussions regarding upcoming elections for a Palestinian governing council.
Finally, there will be negotiations on the “interim agreement” that would extend full Palestinian self-government throughout the West Bank.
ISRAEL SAYS UNRESOLVED ISSUES REMAIN
According to the declaration of principles, the two sides also will have to begin negotiations on the permanent status of the territories within two years after the start of self-rule in Gaza and Jericho, both of which gained autonomy in mid-May.
According to Israeli officials, unresolved issues from the initial autonomy phase include arrangements for providing secure passage on roads between Gaza and Jericho, prisoner releases and financial relations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Unofficially, some Israeli sources suggested the government in Jerusalem will not be ready to proceed to the next phase of the process until PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat has made his first visit to the self-governing zones.
The date of this event is still a matter of speculation, with Arafat apparently remaining cagey about the timing of his visit for reasons of security.
Sha’ath’s trip this week to Gaza and Jericho was seen as preparatory to Arafat’s visit — which may be why Israel balked when Sha’ath spoke of visiting Jerusalem, a visit Arafat is also reportedly thinking of making.
Sha’ath, who was the highest ranking Palestinian official to visit the two self-rule districts so far, sparked much heated rhetoric among Israel’s right wing when he said he wanted to worship at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
The idea that this senior PLO official might arrive in Jerusalem was enough to heat rhetoric to a boiling point, with Jerusalem’s Deputy Mayor Shaul Meir accusing the government of being “even more anxious to sell Jerusalem than the PLO is to buy it.”
In May, Meir, a member of the National Religious Party, reportedly offered a reward to anyone who assassinated Arafat.
Heedful of the potential for violence from the Israeli right and from the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement, Israeli officials sent Shahak to make it clear to Sha’ath that a visit to Jerusalem was not in the cards unless Israel was given sufficient notice to make the necessary security arrangements.
SHA’ATH CRITICIZES ISRAELI PERFORMANCE
Sha’ath responded that he would temporarily postpone his visit Jerusalem for another 10 days.
Leaving Jericho on Monday to return to Gaza, Sha’ath said he was “disappointed by Israel’s performance” since the launching of self-rule in Gaza and Jericho.
He charged that Israel was not acting in accordance with the May 4 Cairo agreement for implementing autonomy.
Sha’ath said that Israel held up convoys of Palestinian vehicles at road blocks and frequently closed parts of the road linking Jericho and Gaza.
In an indication of the sensitive state of Israeli-Palestinian interactions, meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry issued instructions this week that there are to be no further work contacts with Arafat’s political adviser, Dr. Ahmed Tibi.
The reason appears to be that Tibi is an Israeli citizen.
According to a report on Israel army radio, the reason for the timing of the ban, just before the start of the next stage in the autonomy talks, is that Israel wishes to avoid any appearance that the PLO is speaking for Israeli Arabs as well as for Palestinians.
Interviewed on Israel Radio, Tibi denied any conflict of interest.
“I have merely sought to be a catalyst of peace between my country, Israel, and the Palestinians. When I meet with (Foreign Minister) Shimon Peres, or the prime minister, I do so not as an official representative of the other side, but as one who seeks to bring the two positions closer to each other, to bridge over differences,” said Tibi.
Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians still being held in Israeli jails for security offenses launched what they termed an “open-ended” hunger strike on Tuesday to protest the way their release was being handled by the Palestinian leadership.
The strike leader in Bethlehem, Issa Karaki, had harsh criticism for the PLO for agreeing to what he termed the “humiliating conditions” Israel had laid down for the release of the Palestinian prisoners.
Israel has been demanding that before being released, prisoners sign a document renouncing violence and acknowledging that their release falls under the terms of the Cairo agreement that pertain to prisoner releases.
Under the terms of the agreement, Israel was to release 5,000 Palestinian prisoners within five weeks of the signing.
Some 1,300 of those prisoners due for release are still incarcerated for having refused to sign the document.
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