Netanyahu condemns nationhood aspirations

It was the first quiet day in Hebron after a month of protests by stone-throwing Palestinians. The troubles concentrated the world’s attention on stalled negotiations on the status of the West Bank and Gaza and galvanised mediation efforts by Egypt and the US.

In contrast to the combative Nethanyahu style, Shimon Peres, spoke in his Knesset office of peace-making being like a romance, of turning enemies into partners and of inventing the future. The former prime minister and architect of the Oslo peace accords, summarised the Likud-led government’s stance on the peace process in two pithy phrases. “You cannot have a dialogue with yourself”, he said, and, when negotiating, “you must be careful not to win too much”. He said the new government is mistaken to think the price of peace can be lowered or the pace of the process slowed down. But he believes history is stronger than governments. “We will come back on track, but not now, not now.”

Meanwhile Egyptian and American mediators have been busy trying to break the impasse in the Oslo process. They are pressing for an early conclusion to semi-official discussions between the Palestinian Authority and Israeli government on an airport and seaport in Gaza, safe access between Gaza and the West Bank and the release of prisoners. The intent is to accommodate Palestinian concerns and build confidence, the Israeli Director General of Foreign Affairs said, in order to restart formal talks. The mediators’ presumption is that all this will amount to a strong enough package for Yasser Arafat to take to the Palestinian people and enable him to return to table. It is not known to what extent Arafat acquiesces with these plans.

Abu Ala, chief Palestinian negotiator of the 1993 Oslo accords, now Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, told the Jerusalem Post: “Our problem is not the airport and seaport, it is land.”

In Har Homa, south-east of Jerusalem, earth-moving for a new Israeli settlement began four months ago on land claimed by the Palestinians and put a stop to the peace process. Today, activity continues at Har Homa at what looks like a less than frenetic pace. No structures are visible as yet, only a few trucks winding round the elongated hill. When asked whether work had slowed down, David Bar-Ilan, adviser to the Prime Minister, remarked more to provoke than enlighten: If that is how it appears we will have to have a word with the contractor. The official Israeli position is settlements, including Har Homa, will be part of accelerated final status talks which they are urging Arafat to join. Netanyahu has said negotiations involving deeply contentious issues of land and water, Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees, can be settled in a few months. There are not many takers for such optimism, assuming formal talks are resumed some time soon. Peres, for one, says it is impossible in so short a time.

Domestic politics have been as much of an obstacle to the Oslo process as anything else. An uneasy truce has broken out in the Israeli cabinet after a new round of deals between the Prime Minister and moderates like Foreign Minister David Levy. But as the opposition Meretz party leader, Amnon Rubenstein points out, people who are extreme make and unmake the prime minister. He said recent changes in electoral legislation strengthen Nethanyahu’s position and he should call the bluff of ultra-orthodox parties who wield influence quite disproportionate to their numbers.

One school of thought in Israel is that trouble with his own people accounts for Netanyahu decision to commence work on Har Homa and expand other settlements. Another view is that it is part of a strategy to compel “realism” on the Palestinian side. Either way, Uri Savur, a former foreign minister who was involved in the wider Oslo peace talks, is terribly concerned about the fundamentals, if not the details, of the accords being broken. Peace strengthens both sides, he said. “Eventually, only Israel can give full legitimacy to the Palestinians and only the Palestinians can give full legitimacy to Israel in the Middle East.” Despite everything, he said, there has been an opening of minds. No one would have expected two years ago to hear a Likud Prime Minister agree to limited Palestinian sovereignty. “I’d rather he made a deal than us because if the Right makes peace it will have our support (the Left) and that means 90 per cent of the country is behind it.”