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Barak to Proceed with Summit Despite Resignation Threats
Prime Minister Ehud Barak is determined to proceed with the planned pivotal three-way summit starting Tuesday in the United States despite resignation threats of three right-wing partners in his coalition government, Israel Radio quoted sources close to Barak as saying on Friday.
Barak is meeting leaders of the left-wing Meretz party regarding the upcoming summit between himself, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and U.S. President Bill Clinton at Camp David, a presidential resort in Maryland, the radio said.
Meretz quit the government in June to enable the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Barak's biggest coalition partner, to agree to stay in the coalition. Meretz was at loggerheads with Shas over the funding of Shas' ill-managed religious school system.
Meretz vowed to continue supporting Barak's peace efforts, although it did not want its leader, former Education Minister Yossi Sarid, to join the summit.
It cited the fact that ministers from the three rebellious parties, namely Shas, the National Religious Party (NRP) and the Yisrael Ba'aliya, will not be participating despite they were invited to the summit.
Shas' decision-making Council of Torah Sages has demanded to know Barak's "red lines" with the Palestinians before he leaves for the summit. Its spiritual leadership has also demanded Barak's clarification on his position before it decides whether to stay in the coalition government.
The Yisrael Ba'aliya and the NRP have decided in succession to withdraw from the government over possible concessions Barak might make during the summit. Their ministers are expected to hand in their letters of resignation on Sunday at the cabinet's weekly meeting.
In another development, Foreign Minister David Levy is scheduled to meet Barak on Sunday before the cabinet meeting to finalize the "red lines" in the negotiations over the thorniest final-status issues such as Jerusalem, water, border, Jewish settlements and Palestinian refugees.
Barak will go to Jordan Saturday evening for a meeting with King Abdullah II. He also intends to stop over in Cairo on Monday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak before continuing his trip to the Camp David summit Tuesday.
Barak's office said on Friday that no decisions have been made by the prime minister to release more Palestinian security prisoners or to transfer the Jerusalem area villages to the Palestinians.
Earlier reports said that Barak might release more Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons and hand over the three Arab villages on the outskirts of Jerusalem as confidence-building measures to improve the atmosphere of the summit.
Camp David is famous for the U.S.-brokered summit there in 1978 between Egypt and Israel, which led to the signing of a peace treaty the next year, the first between an Arab country and the Jewish state.
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