World

Netanyahu's Moment Of Truth

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 20, 1998 / 4:11 PM EST / CBS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday got his cabinet to agree to the suspension of peace moves with the Palestinians, setting the scene for a showdown in parliament.

The cabinet voted unanimously but for one abstention to freeze the handover of West Bank land outlined in the U.S.-brokered Wye River accord until Palestinians met a string of conditions.

The prime minister is slated to ask parliament in a vote Monday to support conditions he has demanded of the Palestinians before Israel will carry out another troop withdrawal from parts of the West Bank. If Netanyahu loses the vote a near certainty he has said he will call early elections.

The cabinet decision and a proposal by Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon to annex parts of the West Bank if Palestinians proclaim a state were widely seen as a gesture to appease right-wing legislators who have vowed to topple the government.

"Israel will complete implementation of its commitments in the peace process when the Palestinian Authority fulfils its commitments," a cabinet statement said, formalising a policy Netanyahu announced nearly two weeks ago.

Netanyahu, who controls a tenuous 61-59 majority, announced last week that if he failed to win legislators' support for the measures, he would act to move elections up to early next year from late 2000.

Jewish settlers of the West Bank and Gaza, among the harshest critics of the Wye accord, said in light of the cabinet decision they would try to persuade right-wing legislators to back Netanyahu on Monday.

"It's conditional. As long as there is no progress in the redeployments, we'll help him survive but it's a tactical decision," said settlement leader Shlomo Silver. Settler leaders oppose ceding West Bank land they view as essential to Israeli security and the biblical birthright of Jews.

Support from two of their supporters in parliament could mean the difference between keeping Netanyahu's government afloat and heading for early elections.

For their part Palestinians said they had already met all their peace deal obligations and warned Israel the decision could lead to a new outburst of violence.

"This is a government of extremists which is...failing to take into account that its policies have led to bloodshed and could lead to more bloodshed in the future," said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

Netanyahu demands that President Yasser Arafat abandon intentions to declare a Palestinian state, accept Israel's terms for freeing Palestinian prisoners, halt incitement and violence, collect illegal weapons and reduce the size of his police force.

Some of the terms are included in the Wye accord which called for a three-stage handover of West Bank land in exchange for Palestinian moves to bolster Israel's security.

Israel carried out the first troop redeployment last month but missed a deadline last Friday fo a second stage of the withdrawal.

At Sunday's cabinet meeting, Foreign Minister Sharon suggested Israel consider adopting a law for Israel to annex parts of the West Bank and Gaza as an automatic response to any declaration by Arafat of a Palestinian state.

Political sources said Netanyahu asked the attorney-general to review the proposal.

Arafat has vowed to declare independence when the period set out in Israeli-Palestinian peace deals for negotiations on a final status agreement expires next May -- a declaration that Israel vehemently opposes.

Meanwhile, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak, whose party began the Israel-Palestinian peace process in 1993, was preparing over the weekend for the possibility of new elections.

Netanyahu adviser David Bar-Illan said he was unconcerned about polls that show Barak leading the prime minister by a statistically insignificant 5 percent.

"All I can say is that Netanyahu started the campaign in 1996 being 25 points behind Peres," Bar-Illan said, referring to former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, beaten by Netanyahu in a tight race two years ago.