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            From the Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition: March 9, 2000  

     http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/09/News/News.3740.html


               Barak, Arafat agree to relaunch talks
               By Danna Harman

               JERUSALEM (March 9) - A month after talks broke off in
a huff, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are heading back to the
table in an effort to reach a final-status deal by September 13, US
special envoy Dennis Ross said yesterday, after a three-way meeting
with Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat.

               Barak and Arafat are expected to announce the new
round of negotiations in the presence of Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak today in Sharm e-Sheikh. In 10 days negotiators from each
side are to travel to Washington to relaunch the talks.

               US State Department spokesman James Rubin said the
Washington talks would be led by top-level negotiators and that they
could last anywhere from a week to several weeks.

               "I would not see these talks in quite the same
intensity and level as the Shepherdstown talks," Rubin said,
referring to the the Syrian-Israeli negotiations that took place in January.


               Rubin said resumption of the talks, stalled in early
February, would not necessarily be successful.

               "It's our view that [holding the talks in Washington]
is the best way to give a kick start to the process, but we recognize
that it's an extraordinarily difficult process and even a good kick
start might not get it going," he said.

               Rubin termed "utter nonsense" speculation that the US
was focused on getting a deal quickly to ensure its own historical legacy.

               Ross officially announced the decision to resume talks
after the meeting in Ramallah, saying the parties had agreed to go
into intensive negotiations immediately after next week's Id al-Adha
holiday.

               "[US] President [Bill] Clinton and Secretary [of State
Madeleine] Albright have said that the Palestinian issue constitutes
the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict," said Ross, speaking at
Ramallah's Grand Palace Hotel. "That is why the meeting represents an
important step in reaffirming the Israeli and Palestinian commitment
to work in a spirit of partnership and mutual confidence to end the
conflict between them."

               Ross said the parties planned to work toward reaching
the framework agreement "as soon as possible," so that  "all the
permanent-status issues" could be resolved by September 13 - the date
Arafat has said he will declare a state.

               According to the compromise worked out over the past
two days, the new timetable will be as follows:

               * Outstanding interim issues - such as the 6.1 percent
               redeployment, the northern safe passage route, prisoner
               releases, and tax refunds - will be taken care of
               immediately.

               * The framework agreement for the permanent status -
               which was originally to have been concluded by February
               14 - will be concluded by May.

               * The third redeployment will take place by June - even
               if the framework agreement has not been reached.

               * The permanent-status agreement, or at least most of
               it, will be concluded before September.

               Barak made two main concessions. First, although he did
not specify the size of the third redeployment, he did agree to
discuss it and to set an independent date for its implementation.
Originally, Barak had hoped to put off and perhaps merge this
redeployment into the permanent agreement.

               In addition, Barak agreed to hold the coming rounds of
talks in the US, even though he has consistently maintained that the
sides were better off working directly, without constant US pressure
and presence.

               Arafat compromised in agreeing to accept the 6.1 West
Bank withdrawal map - albeit with minor changes, but without the
inclusion of any land around Jerusalem - the demand which led to the
disruption of talks in the first place.

               In addition, although the Palestinians had sought to
bypass concluding a framework agreement, they have now agreed to work
on one.

               Barak's detractors argue that the prime minister, in
his eagerness to show some progress on the Palestinian track, has
fumbled.

               Likud MK Dan Naveh charged that Barak had
capitulated to Palestinian demands and given up Israel's hard-won
right to decide itself on the size and timing of the third redeployment.

               "Barak has now made the worst diplomatic mistake of his
time in office," said Naveh. "There was a clear understanding between
Netanyahu and Clinton regarding the third redeployment, and that was
that it would not constitute more than 1%. Netanyahu's government
decided this and Clinton backed Netanyahu. What Barak is planning is
to give far more than that. We have given up the edge."

               PA officials said yesterday's breakthrough was achieved
in two summit meetings between Barak and Arafat, yesterday in
Ramallah and Tuesday night in Savyon - in Ross's presence.

               One of the biggest immediate gains for the PA was
increased US involvement in the negotiations, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a
spokesman to Arafat, said.

               A PA source said the PA had asked for US guarantees
that the September 13 deadline would be met and that the interim
agreement implemented.

               Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei
confirmed that the two leaders resolved some interim issues.

               The PA's key demand was that the third redeployment
would be implemented sometime before the new deadline for a framework
agreement, in May.

               According to some Palestinian sources, the US is also
proposing a formula for the framework agreement.

               (Janine Zacharia and Lamia Lahoud contributed to this
               report.)

***********************************************************************

     From the Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition: March 10, 2000  

    http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/10/News/News.3801.html

               Syria talks to resume within a month
               By Danna Harman

               SHARM E-SHEIKH (March 10) - Negotiations
between Israel and Syria will resume within a month, Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak said at a summit with Prime Minister Ehud
Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat yesterday.

               "We met here in a very friendly atmosphere [and are]
overcoming so many obstacles," Mubarak told a brief news conference
after the meeting. "The good relations between the leaders is giving
great hope for the resumption of a solution between both sides, which
we consider important."

               Mubarak gave no further details, but declared: "We have
great hopes that the Israeli, Syrian, Lebanese tracks could resume
soon, which would be the end of the problem of the Middle East."

               Later, Mubarak was quoted by Foreign Minister David
Levy as having told his guests that he believed progress was about to
made on both tracks and that the Syrian talks will start up again
within a month.

               Mubarak did not give any explanation for this prediction,
said Levy.

               Levy also added that as far as the government was
concerned "the ball is in the Syrian court."

               Arafat and Barak flanked Mubarak throughout the press
conference in Sharm, smiling, but not saying a word. Moments before
the event began, Egyptian technicians ran in and dismantled the
microphones which had previously been set up.

               One official later said the leaders wanted to avoid
being asked any questions, so as not to have to publicly air their
differences on the specifics.

               "It would be absurd to say there are no differences
between us," Levy admitted later. "Whoever says it is possible to go
forward without crisis at all does not know what he is talking about."

               Arafat was joined in Sharm by top members of his
negotiating teams, while Barak brought Levy and members of his office
with him. Out in the hallway waiting for the leaders to end their
meeting, officials on both sides mixed freely, with back-slaps and jokes
all around.

               The summit was the third between Barak and Arafat after
a lengthy break in direct contact. On Wednesday the two decided to
send negotiating teams back to the long-stalled talks.

               Yesterday's summit was intended as a "thank you" to
Mubarak for his involvement, to brief him on the talks, and to ask
for his stamp of approval on their future plans.

               The two met with Mubarak for over an hour in the Jolie
Ville Hotel and then sat down together with aides and assistants in a
spacious hall overlooking the groomed golf courses for a formal lunch
and informal small talk.

               Asked how the meeting had gone, Arafat later told
reporters: "It was a very successful, very important one - just as
the past two meetings [between him and Barak] were."

               Levy, who was also at the meeting, echoed this
sentiment, saying the talks had been "frank and open" and had taken
place "in a very positive atmosphere" and should show that the
government had no intention of ignoring the Palestinian track.

               Mubarak's top aide Osama el-Baz, meanwhile, who was
reportedly instrumental in getting the sides back to the table, said
that "confidence has been restored over the past few days" and that
the "leaders were very comfortable with each other... there were no harsh
words or yelling or anything like that."

          Now, said el-Baz, "we need to translate all this into concrete
activity."

               If anything was missing from the sunny, upbeat meeting
it seemed to be specifics, or any addressing of
concrete steps to be taken.

               After returning from Sharm, Barak spoke by telephone
last night with Jordan's King Abdullah II to update him on the
negotiations. Israel Radio reported that Abdullah was pleased with
the progress made.

               One person conspicuously missing was Oded Eran, head of
the Israeli negotiating team. One official said there is some "bad
blood" between him and Barak due to Eran's feeling that his mandate
is shrinking.

               Nonetheless, Eran will lead the negotiating team, which
is to set off for Washington in 10 days. Delegates from each side are
to meet this weekend to discuss the agenda.

               Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo said the US
and Egypt would act as guarantors of a deal to implement outstanding
interim accords and a full treaty by September 13.

               But he cautioned that the proof of this week's flurry
of high-level contacts would be in deeds, not words.

               "For us we are at the beginning of the road. We cannot
say there is success until we see actual steps on the ground and real
implementation," Abed Rabbo told reporters in Gaza.

***********************************************************************

     From the Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition: March 10, 2000  

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/10/News/News.3802.html

               Yatom signals readiness to discuss Abu Dis
               By David Zev Harris

               JERUSALEM (March 10) - The fate of the Abu Dis
area, to the east of Jerusalem, is still "an open question," Prime
Minister Ehud Barak's Chief of Staff Danny Yatom said yesterday,
signaling a readiness to discuss Palestinian demands for Israel to
relinquish control of the area.

               Yatom's remarks, in an interview with Israel Radio,
immediately led the Likud to accuse Barak of having decided to divide
Jerusalem.

               Barak made it clear last night in a statement that
villages in the Jerusalem area would not be handed over to the
Palestinians as part of the upcoming 6.1 percent West Bank withdrawal.

               "However, all land transfers in any future agreement
will be discussed at the appropriate time," the statement added.

               According to American officials, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
told US Ambassador Martin Indyk, in a meeting at the Shas spiritual
leader's residence in Jerusalem last night, that Abu Dis is a part of
Jerusalem and he opposes handing it over to the Palestinians.

               Itim quoted Yosef as saying that "Eizariya and Abu Dis
are parts of Jerusalem, and Shas will do everything to prevent any
harm being done to the status of Jerusalem."

               The Shas leader, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Eli
Yishai, echoed this view.

               Indyk pointed out that Abu Dis is already in
Palestinian hands, as agreed in the Oslo Accords.

               Abu Dis, Eizariya, and A-Ram are already considered
Area B (under Palestinian civilian control).

               However, the Palestinian Authority wants to have full
control of the villages, preferably as a part of the overdue final
stage of the second redeployment.

               "We must continue discussing the future of all sorts of
villages and areas in Judea and Samaria," Yatom said. The upcoming
withdrawal will almost certainly not be the last time Israel will
hand over land to the PA, he said. "Therefore, the question of the
three villages is an open question, which we'll continue discussing."

               Yatom revealed what Barak has been trying to keep from
the public, the Likud claimed yesterday.

               "This is the real-term division of the Israeli capital,
Jerusalem," said MK Dan Naveh.

               Naveh said that Barak's statement last night only
strengthened Yatom's comments that in a third redeployment Barak
intends to give the Palestinians parts of greater Jerusalem.

               Following Yatom's comments, Likud MK Yehoshua
Matza asked the Knesset House Committee to speed up the
legislative process for his proposed amendment to the
Basic Law: Jerusalem.

               Matza called on committee chairman Salah Tarif (One
Israel) to allow voting before the Knesset's spring recess commences
on March 30. The need to pass this legislation is urgent, he said.

               The amendment would ensure the status of Jerusalem as
Israel's undivided capital with its boundaries defined as those areas
that have been included in the municipality's expansion. It would prohibit
transferring any authority in the city to anyone other than Israel.
Any change to the bill would require a majority of 61 MKs in the
120-member Knesset.

               Abu Dis, Eizariya, and A-Ram, however, are not within
Jerusalem's boundaries, as currently defined.

               Herut's only MK, Michael Kleiner, submitted a motion of
no-confidence on the basis that Barak has promised territorial
contiguity for the Palestinians. Kleiner said he also objected to the
nature of yesterday's talks at Sharm e-Sheikh among Barak, PA
Chairman Yasser Arafat, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

               Shas, the National Religious Party, and Yisrael
Ba'aliya must all quit the coalition post-haste, in the light of that
meeting, said Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman. The talks
prove the government intends arranging simultaneous peace deals with the PA
and Syria, he said. In Lieberman's opinion both deals will be taken
to the country in a single referendum.

               Settlement leaders warned that if Barak hands villages
in the Jerusalem area to the PA in the third redeployment scheduled
for June, they will no longer honor previous understandings with the
government and will embark on a nationwide campaign to prevent its
implementation.

               Members of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea,
Samaria, and Gaza said yesterday that they had received information
pertaining to a secret agreement drawn up between Barak and Arafat
that would grant the Palestinians full control of the villages in June.

               The settlers said Barak had reneged on prior
commitments and assurances to them that areas surrounding Jerusalem
would not be transferred to sole PA control. They warned that such a
move would lead to the division of Jerusalem.

               Council chairman Benny Kashriel called on Barak to
refute Yatom's statements. "The handing over of one neighborhood will
lead to the handing over of the Temple Mount to Palestinian control,"
Kashriel told The Jerusalem Post.

               Margot Dudkevitch contributed to this report.

********************************************************************

     From the Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition: March 10, 2000  

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/10/News/News.3804.html

               PA aide: PM, Arafat discussing pullback in J'lem area
               By Lamia Lahoud

               JERUSALEM (March 10) - Prime Minister Ehud Barak
and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat have been discussing
several suggestions over the past three days about how to integrate
some areas around Jerusalem in the 6.1 percent redeployment, Arafat
adviser Bassam Abu Sharif said yesterday.

               "They agreed to discuss the issue and take a decision
within 10 to 12 days," he said. "Nothing has been finalized yet."

               But Palestinian sources close to the negotiations said
that Israel is promising to hand over some of these villages at a
later stage, either as part of the third redeployment, in June, or as
a delayed part of the 6.1% withdrawal.

               Arafat had asked that Barak hand over in the 6.1%
pullback Abu Dis, Eizariya, a-Ram, and Sawahra, villages just outside
Jerusalem.

               Palestinian sources said the Israelis had made it clear
that they could not redeploy from Eizariya, since it is too close to
Ma'aleh Adumim. A withdrawal from Abu Dis is also difficult for Barak.

               Abu Dis has symbolic importance for both sides, since
it faces the Old City and has been proposed as the compromise for the
Palestinian capital.

               Abu Sharif said the two leaders had discussed with US
special envoy Dennis Ross and Egyptian President Mubarak a map for
the 6.1% withdrawal which would not include Abu Dis and Eizariya, but
would include a-Ram and possibly some other areas around Jerusalem.

               "They discussed a pullback from Bir Zeit and Sami Ramis
[around Ramallah] till Beit Hanina," he said.

               Kalandiya would be excluded, but both sides would
work out an arrangement, for Israel and the PA to share
Atarot airport, a Palestinian source explained.

               During Ross's last visit 10 days ago, a senior PA
official suggested that Israel implement immediately the withdrawal
from 6% of the West Bank and delay for a month or two the pullback
from 0.1%, which would include at least one or two Jerusalem suburbs,
well-informed sources said.

********************************************************************

     From the Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition: March 13, 2000  

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/13/News/News.3896.html            

               Barak: Jerusalem will never be divided
               By Danna Harman and David Zev Harris

               JERUSALEM (March 13) - The future of Jerusalem was at
the center of yesterday's cabinet meeting, with Prime Minister Ehud
Barak stressing that anyone who as much as hints that the government
intends to divide the city is "gravely misleading the public."

               "The government's position is clear," Barak said.
"Jerusalem will forever remain the undivided capital of Israel."

               Barak indicated that words spoken by his chief of
staff, Danny Yatom, last week to the effect that certain lands in the
Jerusalem vicinity would eventually be transferred to the
Palestinians as part of a permanent agreement had been misconstrued.

               He went on to criticize those "both in the opposition
and in the coalition" who speak of handing over Jerusalem territory
to the Palestinians.

               "I call on everyone to show a sense of national
responsibility and stop putting question marks around the subject of
Jerusalem," he said.

               Education Minister Yossi Sarid, however, said that as
far as he is concerned, talk of transferring control of such places
as Abu Dis, Eizariya, and A-Ram to the Palestinians - which is what
Yatom had done - does not amount to talking about dividing the city.

               These villages, he said, are not part of the Jerusalem
Municipality.

               Minister Haim Ramon, responsible for Jerusalem Affairs,
said these villages are already under Palestinian civilian control.
"Anyone who tries to portray the situation as anything else is
manipulating the public and harming the peace," he said.

               Tourism Minister Amnon Lipkin Shahak, speaking after
the meeting, said that while there is no debate on the question of a
united Jerusalem, "Eizariya, A-Ram, and Abu Dis are places which are
not defined as being within the Jerusalem municipal borders."

               Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, meanwhile, told
reporters yesterday that the logical solution to the Jerusalem
question is to have district autonomy for Palestinian areas of the
city, with the Old City taking on a status similar to that of the Vatican.

               The general consensus among opposition politicians
yesterday was that the government simply doesn't know what it is
doing as it approaches the final status talks with the Palestinians.

               The Likud accused Barak of having already divided
Jerusalem. Barak, said MK Dan Naveh, has become a serial
promise-breaker. The most obvious example of this is Barak's
intention to hand parts of Jerusalem over the the Palestinians,
despite his election pledges about the unity of the capital, he said.

               "If Barak was telling the truth in what he said about a
unified Jerusalem in the cabinet meeting, he must compose a letter
firing Deputy Minister Sneh," said MK Yehoshua Matza. "Sneh's remarks
were irresponsible and dangerous and likely to put heavy pressure on
Israel."

               Reports yesterday suggested the Jerusalem
neighborhoods of Beit Hanina, Walaja, and Kafr Akab will fall under
Palestinian control after the signing of a final-status deal. Barak's
office issued a denial, but that failed to satisfy right-wing parties. The
Likud and the joint National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu faction are in
the process of wording a no-confidence motion in Barak, which will
likely come to the Knesset plenum in the last week of March.

               The exchanges between the Likud and One Israel over who
sold Jerusalem to the Palestinians first continued all day. Both
parties will in the next few days commence poster campaigns and
drivers will witness a new battle for control of road junctions
between young activists from the parties.

               Jerusalem will be one of the subjects to be discussed
by the Israeli and Palestinian working groups, which are to leave for
the US on Saturday and meet in Washington throughout next week. Oded
Eran, head of the Israeli negotiating team, met with his counterpart Saeb
Erekat on Saturday to begin setting the agenda for the meetings, as
well as to work on some of the leftover interim agreement issues.

               Tamar Hausman adds:

               Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert is strongly against any
possible hand-over of Abu Dis, Eizariya and A-Ram to the
Palestinians, by changing their status from Areas B to Area A,
because it could potentially result in the isolation of the Jewish
neighborhoods of Neveh Ya'acov and Pisgat Ze'ev and weaken the unity
of the city, said city spokesman Hagai Elias.

               Giving Abu Dis to the PA would mean that "it is only
700 meters away from the Temple Mount," thereby potentially allowing
the PA to control the Mount, Elias said.

**********************************************************************

     From the Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition: March 13, 2000  

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/13/News/News.3900.html

               Expert: Despite 'posturing,' talks with Syria will resume
               By David Rudge

               HAIFA (March 13) - Negotiations with Syria are likely
to resume soon, despite negative comments emanating from Damascus
recently and the hard-line attitude adopted by the Arab League's
foreign ministers' meeting in Beirut, according to a leading analyst
of Middle Eastern affairs.

               Prof. Yosef Ginat of Haifa University, an expert on
Arab affairs, said this was the consensus of opinion among academics
and observers here and abroad who were all of the belief that the
recent "posturing" in Syria, Lebanon and Israel was in preparation
for reaching a draft peace accord.

               "I cannot say that I disagree with this assessment,
especially in light of a comment once made by former [US] secretary
of state Henry Kissinger about what he referred to as constructive
ambiguity," Ginat told The Jerusalem Post yesterday.

               "In this context we would then see the comments by
Bashar Assad [son of and heir-apparent to Syrian President Hafez
Assad] and those of Prime Minister Ehud Barak recently as being
directed to their respective home constituencies."

               Bashar Assad, in a recent interview with the
London-based Al-Hayat Arabic newspaper said that Barak was weakening
and might not be able to win sufficient political support for a peace deal.

               "Assad needs some opposition in Syria and Barak needs
the same among Israelis in order to strengthen bargaining positions.

               "This is the reason that many academics and politicians
with whom I'm in contact worldwide, including a Syrian I spoke with
in the morning in the US, whose name I am not prepared to mention,
feel that the situation is not regressing but actually progressing,"
said Ginat.

               "They see that Barak's comments that four prime
ministers agreed to the June 4 line was ostensibly directed at the
Syrians but he was also speaking to Israelis by saying, although not
in so many words, that any agreement reached would involve a pullback
from the Golan to a line between the 1923 international border
and the line [temporarily held by the Syrians] on June 4, 1967.

               "If this is indeed reached, then Barak would depict
this as an achievement and so would Assad. This refers back to the
constructive ambiguity mentioned by Kissinger under which it would be
possible for two sides to agree to the same document, with the same
results, but with two different interpretations," he said.

***********************************************************************

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