Israel Threatens Unilateral Separation with Palestinians

Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday that if the Palestinians turn down US President Bill Clinton's peace proposal, Israel will take time to prepare for a unilateral separation between the two sides.

Barak's comment at Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting might aim to pressure the Palestinian leadership to accept the US bridging proposal designed to serve as a basis for a framework deal that will guide future negotiations toward a comprehensive final-status agreement.

Israel has been floating the idea of a unilateral separation from the Palestinians since October but has refrained from implementing it due to the complexities such a move might involve.

Israel has conditionally accepted the proposal while the Palestinians are seeking U.S. clarifications on a number of issues and a coordinated stance by the Arab countries before giving a reply.

According to media reports, the proposal stipulates that Palestinians will gain sovereignty over the Arab neighborhoods and the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem while the Wailing Wall, Judaism's holiest site, will remain under Israeli control.

In return, there would be no right of return for some 3.7 million Palestinian refugees displaced since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, with only a small number allowed back to Israel for family reunification.กก

In addition, Israel would withdraw from 95 percent of the West Bank and 100 percent of the Gaza Strip, territories it has occupied along with East Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

At the cabinet meeting, a senior political figure notified the death of a senior member of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

Thabet Thabet, 49, secretary general of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in the Tulkarm area, was reportedly killed by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit Sunday morning near the West Bank city.

Thabet, a PNA official, was considered one of the leaders of the intifada (uprising), according to an Israel Radio report.

In early November, Israel adopted a policy of liquidating Palestinian militia leaders responsible for attacking Israeli soldiers and civilians. Until now, the policy has almost exclusively targeted on commanders in the field, not the political echelon.






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