Arafat Sets Statehood Ultimatum
On the day Israeli and Palestinian negotiators missed an important target date on the road to peace, Yasser Arafat set a deadline of his own -- a declaration of Palestinian statehood by September, with or without Israel's blessing.
A resolution passed Sunday night by Arafat and his Fatah Revolutionary Council, a gathering of 132 top loyalists, said the Palestinians are entitled to statehood this year, no later than September.
September is the deadline for a peace treaty with Israel that would define the terms of Palestinian statehood. However, talks have bogged down, raising questions about whether an agreement is possible by the deadline.
Speaking in Marrakech, Morocco, Monday, Arafat said the current blockage in the Middle East peace process has created a "dangerous and explosive situation."
On Sunday, an important target date was missed. It was to have been the day a framework treaty, or outline of the final deal, was signed in a festive White House ceremony.
Instead, the day was marked by mutual recriminations, with each side blaming the other for lack of progress.
The Palestinians say Barak prefers to reach a peace treaty with Syria first. The chief Israeli negotiator, Oded Eran, said that in four months of talks he never got a proposal from the Palestinians that he could have taken back to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Across the Arab world, government officials and newspapers were taking the Palestinians' side.
"Failing to keep promises, as the current Israeli prime minister is doing, is a useless and baffling maneuver," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was quoted as saying by Egypt's Middle East News Agency. In Damascus, Tishrin newspaper, which reflects official government opinion, reported in a banner headline that the framework agreement was postponed "owing to Tel Aviv's procrastination."
Some Israeli analysts believe Arafat may prefer to get to September without a peace treaty. If that happens, he would not be forced to make painful concessions on the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees that would likely earn him disdain in much of the Arab world.
But Palestinian negotiators say they are serious about reaching a peace treaty and that a unilateral declaration is not the preferred option. Arafat has full or partial control over less than 40 percent of the West Bank, with much of the land split up and scattered.
In an effort to get the Palestinians back to the table, Eran said Israel was ready to concede a key Palestinian demand: a contiguous block of land in the West Bank, seen by the Palestinians as a crucial underpinning to a future state. Eran also said explicitly for the first time that Israel will have to give up some Jewish settlements.
Barak, meanwhile, warned that Palestinian militants are pushing hard to carry out terror attacks to scuttle talks.
Last week, a car carrying explosiveapparently meant for a bombing in Israel blew up prematurely, killing a Palestinian man and wounding another. And the Israeli daily Haaretz said the Iranian-backed Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah has begun plotting attacks with Palestinian militant groups headquartered in Damascus, Syria.
The stalled Palestinian talks come as Israel is facing problems on other fronts as well.
One is Syria. Syria and Israel continue to argue over what to do with the Golan Heights, an area Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. Peace talks between the sides have been suspended.
In a protest marking the Golan annexation's anniversary today, about 200 Druse Arabs threw stones at Israeli police in the Golan. The police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, and Israel radio said three protesters were injured. In a Syrian-controlled section of the Golan, dozens of Syrian protesters gathered at the edge of the Israeli territory and shouted "You Zionists, you cowards, leave the Golan."
Israel also faces trouble in neighboring Lebanon, where Israeli troops have been stationed for 15 years to create a buffer zone guarding northern Israel against incursions.
Israeli warplanes struck suspected guerrilla hideouts in southern Lebanon Monday following three days of relative lull in the region, Lebanese security officials said. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the raids, and there was no word on casualties.
Lebanese guerrillas, primarily Hezbollah, are fighting to oust 1,500 Israeli soldiers and their allied 2,500-strong South Lebanon Army militia from the region. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has promised to withdraw from the border zone by July.