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Israel Conditions Washington Talks on Stop of Violence
If the Palestinian leadership could take measures to quell the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak might accept the invitation to Washington for resuming peace talks, a senior aide of Barak said Thursday.
U.S. President Bill Clinton Wednesday invited Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to meet him separately in White House in a last-ditch effort to revive the peace process following the bloody clashes between Israel and the Palestinians in the past month.
Clinton hoped the summits might finally end the violence, in which over 130 had been killed and some 4,000 wounded, and may even revive the peace talks.
Asked by Israel Radio whether Barak will fly to Washington, Gilad Sher said that it will only happen when Arafat carries out the Palestinian parts of the Sharm el Sheikh ceasefire understandings reached last week at emergency Mideast summit.
It means, Sher added, that Arafat should curb the anti-Israeli incitements in the Palestinian media, re-arrest those Palestinian extremists belonging to militant Islamic group Hamas, and first of all issue a statement to unequivocally condemn the violence.
Once all these conditions are fulfilled and the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is calm again, Barak will consider going to the United States and returning to the negotiating table, Sher said.
Israel will not negotiate "under fire, under pressure and under the crisis created by its negotiation partner," Sher stated.
Sher, who has been a central player in the negotiations with the Palestinians for the last 18 months, was recently appointed by Barak as his bureau chief and "coordinator of the prime minister's activities." He was widely regarded as Barak's closest aide.
He stressed that Israel wants to continue the peace process, but also has to prepare for the scenario that a final-peace deal could not be reached with the Palestinians.
That's why Israel began to draft a plan for unilateral separation or disengagement between Israel and the Palestinian territories, said Sher.
According to a plan drawn up by Israel Defense establishments, Israel would pull back its troops from some areas of the West Bank, erect border barriers, and set up crossing points. In the plan, none of the 144 Jewish settlements scattered the occupied Palestinian territories would be dismantled.
Sher revealed that Israel almost finished the final touch-up of the plan.
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