Subject: Israel in the News - June 25-28, 1998 (Jerusalem Post)
Date:    Wed, 1 Jul 1998 00:52:04 +0000
To:      "Arutz-7 List"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>

 

Thursday, June 25, 1998       1 Tammuz 5758 
Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition

                    Netanyahu pushing hard for referendum 

                    By MICHAL YUDELMAN and news agencies 

                    (June 25) - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
                    yesterday made intensive efforts, including via a
                    telephone marathon, to muster support for a
                    referendum, accusing those who oppose it with
                    wanting to harm the government.

                    By last night, however, the number of coalition
                    MKs, including many in the Likud, who oppose the
                    referendum was estimated at 48, while only 15 were
                    in favor or had not yet decided.

                    Netanyahu called a meeting of coalition party
                    leaders, putting his whole weight behind a
                    referendum.

                    He told them he could hold a referendum two months
                    after a decision is made.

                    He said the referendum is a tool intended to help
                    the government, and would help bridge the
                    differences among the population.

                    Political sources said that Netanyahu intends to
                    announce the planned referendum today, if he is
                    assured of sufficient support.

                    Those objecting to the proposal include
                    Agriculture Minister Rafael Eitan (Tsomet),
                    Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai (Likud),
                    coalition whip Meir Sheetrit (Likud), Shas,
                    Gesher, five of the seven Yisrael Ba'aliya MKs,
                    United Torah Judaism, Moledet, and two of The
                    Third Way's four MKs.

                    The objectors said their main reason is not
                    knowing whether Netanyahu wants the referendum to
                    advance the peace process or as a means to delay a
                    pullback decision.

                    Shas leader Aryeh Deri said his party tends to
                    object to a referendum, fearing it would set a
                    precedent for issues of state and religion.

                    "Tomorrow someone will get up and say they want a
                    referendum to separate state from religion. Every
                    month it will be something else. What's the
                    Knesset for? We have a principled stand that the
                    government and Knesset should reach a decision [on
                    the pullout]. This is what they were elected for,"
                    Deri said.

                    "In any case, a referendum should not come instead
                    of a decision. If there's any place for a
                    referendum, it's only to prevent a rift in the
                    nation and help reach unity.

                    "If we are convinced it would not delay the
                    pullout and contribute to unity, then we'll
                    support it."

                    Deri said Shas will not demand any political
                    benefits in exchange for its support.

                    In Washington, the US State Department urged
                    Israel again yesterday to approve a US proposal
                    for turning over 13 percent of the West Bank to
                    the Palestinian Authority and said a referendum
                    may not a good idea if it adds to the delay.

                    "If it involves significant delay of any
                    breakthrough, that would be of concern to us," a
                    statement said.

                    "Our emphasis remains on the need for rapid
                    progress to reach agreement on implementing the
                    further redeployments," State Department spokesman
                    James Rubin said.

                    He tempered the statement, though, by saying it
                    was up to Israel to decide what to do, and that it
                    was "not obvious" that a referendum would produce
                    delay in reaching an agreement and reopening
                    negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

                    By some accounts, a referendum would delay a
                    withdrawal for at least two months because
                    parliament would have to pass special legislation
                    first.

                    Arafat is urging the administration to step up
                    pressure on Israel. In a letter to Secretary of
                    State Madeleine Albright, Palestinian negotiator
                    Saeb Erekat called for public disclosure of the US
                    withdrawal plan.

                    But Rubin said "it wouldn't be helpful at this
                    time to take that step. And so we're not going to
                    do so."

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Thursday, June 25, 1998       1 Tammuz 5758 
Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition


                    Israel threatens to spurn UN bodies if PLO
                    upgraded 

                    By HERB KEINON 

                    JERUSALEM (June 25) - Israel would retaliate
                    against a UN decision to upgrade the status of the
                    PLO by cutting back on cooperation with UN bodies
                    interested in becoming more involved in the Middle
                    East, a senior Foreign Ministry official warned
                    yesterday.

                    The official said the Palestinian move to upgrade
                    its UN status is a violation of the "spirit of
                    Oslo," since the accords state that neither side
                    should take dramatic unilateral actions that alter
                    the status quo prior to a final-status agreement.

                    Although Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said
                    the resolution would "severely damage the peace
                    process" if passed, the Foreign Ministry official
                    did not say what action Israel would take against
                    the Palestinian Authority.

                    A debate in the General Assembly on the proposal
                    was scheduled for Friday, but has been postponed.
                    Israel has been lobbying intensely against the
                    move.

                    US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called PA
                    Chairman Yasser Arafat on Tuesday and discussed
                    the issue. Netanyahu also spoke with British Prime
                    Minister Tony Blair about the matter.

                    The Foreign Ministry official said the
                    Palestinians are interested in the upgrade because
                    it will provide them with the status of "a state
                    minus," and enhance their position in the
                    international community.

                    Such a move, he said, would not only have symbolic
                    consequences, but tangible ones, since the
                    Palestinians would be able to draft resolutions
                    and participate in all debates on the Middle East.

                    "Their ability to maneuver against us at the UN
                    will be radically enhanced," the official said.

                    Yitzhak Lior, the Foreign Ministry's deputy
                    director-general for international organizations,
                    noted that since Israel has been boxed out of
                    regional groupings at the UN, it can never dream
                    of full representation on the Security Council or
                    other prestigious UN bodies.

                    An enhanced status for the Palestinian delegation
                    could paradoxically give "Palestine" more clout at
                    the UN than Israel, he said.

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Friday, June 26, 1998       2 Tammuz 5758 
Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition


                    PM: Referendum only after pullback agreement
                    finalized 

                    By HERB KEINON and MICHAL YUDELMAN 

                    TEL AVIV (June 26) -- Prime Minister Binyamin
                    Netanyahu took some of the air out of the
                    referendum balloon yesterday, saying it will be
                    brought to the cabinet for a decision only when an
                    agreement with the Palestinians is in hand.

                    "I believe that a referendum is a way to prevent
                    rifts in the nation," Netanyahu said, in a speech
                    in Tel Aviv to the Moshe Dayan Forum for Political
                    and Social Affairs. "In order for there to be a
                    referendum, there has to be something to have the
                    referendum on.

                    "When and if we reach an agreement [with the
                    Palestinians], we will bring the [referendum]
                    options to the government, and the government will
                    have to decide on the agreement, and the question
                    of the referendum."

                    Netanyahu thus put to rest speculation that the
                    cabinet would decide on the referendum issue at
                    its upcoming meeting on Sunday.

                    President Ezer Weizman yesterday added his weight
                    to the mounting opposition against the referendum
                    on the pullback.

                    Weizman said he did not think it was right to hold
                    a referendum on "something partial and incomplete.
                    The nation has to be presented with something
                    completed, as the Camp David accord and the peace
                    treaty with Egypt were presented to the Knesset.
                    Here it's a particle of something and it's not
                    clear how it will end."

                    Coalition chairman Meir Sheetrit called on
                    Netanyahu to give up the referendum idea and bring
                    the pullback agreement to the cabinet and Knesset
                    for approval.

                    Sheetrit said there is no majority in the Knesset
                    for a referendum, but there is a majority for the
                    redeployment, even if all the MKs belonging to the
                    Eretz Yisrael Front vote against it.

                    He noted the National Religious Party is not
                    likely to bring down the government, despite its
                    objection to the pullout, because the alternative
                    - a Labor government - is much worse.

                    Netanyahu, meanwhile, blamed the Palestinians for
                    the delay in reaching an agreement.

                    "The media has reported that I am dragging things
                    out and holding them up," Netanyahu said. "We are
                    not dragging anything out. We have made
                    significant progress. Most of the gaps have been
                    closed; there is one specific gap that has not
                    been closed, but it is possible to do so."

                    Netanyahu took the Palestinians to task for not
                    fulfilling their obligations under the agreement,
                    saying his government is "no longer willing to be
                    satisfied with promises or commitments on paper.
                    We want real implementation, dates, and a way to
                    supervise the implementation."

                    Netanyahu said he wants the Palestinian police,
                    "which is turning into an army," to shrink back to
                    the size allowed for under the Oslo Accords. "We
                    want a list of the police allowed for under the
                    agreement, and the list of the police that were
                    released."

                    The same is true of the confiscation of weapons,
                    and annulment of the Palestinian covenant.

                    "We don't want to hear that they will collect
                    weapons on a particular, undefined date. We want
                    to know when they will be collected, who will
                    collect them, who will move them out of the
                    territories, and who will supervise it. The same
                    thing is true regarding the annulment of the
                    covenant."

                    If and when an agreement is reached, Netanyahu
                    said, it will be done in stages in order to create
                    "concrete reciprocity."

                    "They will implement, and we will implement, they
                    will implement and we will implement," he said.

                    This way, he said, the entire agreed-upon
                    territory to be given the Palestinians won't be
                    transferred until they fulfill their obligations,
                    a process that could take a few months.

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Friday, June 26, 1998       2 Tammuz 5758 
Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition


                    PM met with two PLC members 

                    By STEVE RODAN and MOHAMMED NAJIB 

                    JERUSALEM (June 26) -- Prime Minister Binyamin
                    Netanyahu secretly met with two senior Palestinian
                    legislators and discussed final-status solutions
                    for the territories, The Jerusalem Post has
                    learned.

                    The meeting took place on Monday night in Ramat
                    Aviv and involved Netanyahu, Marwan Barghouti, a
                    PLC member and the head of Fatah in the West Bank,
                    PLC member Hussam Khader from Nablus, and the MK
                    who arranged the meeting.

                    Much of the 45-minute discussion was taken up by
                    the issue of final status. Netanyahu, according to
                    sources, said he was willing to eventually grant
                    the Palestinians more than the 13.1 percent
                    withdrawal the US is now urging, as part of a
                    final-status solution. But he said he will never
                    accept an independent Palestinian state and will
                    never concede Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.

                    Sources involved with the meeting said Netanyahu
                    discussed the current stalemate in efforts to
                    effect a redeployment in the West Bank and the
                    government decision to expand the municipal
                    jurisdiction of Jerusalem.

                    Neither Barghouti nor Khader agreed to comment on
                    the report, nor would a spokesman for Netanyahu.

                    The two PLC members were quoted as telling
                    Netanyahu that they and their colleagues want to
                    advance the peace process and reach a settlement
                    with Israel. At the same time, they warned that
                    continuation of the stalemate would lead to an
                    explosion in the Middle East.

                    Sources said Netanyahu and the Palestinian
                    legislators agreed to hold more meetings. The
                    prime minister also empowered an envoy to
                    represent him at future meetings with the
                    Palestinians. One such meeting is scheduled to be
                    held in Rhodes from July 1-5 and will discuss the
                    peace process.

                    The sources said Barghouti and Khader had already
                    met with the MK in Ramallah and later visited the
                    Knesset.

                    The sources said the purpose of the contacts is
                    for both sides to know each other's thinking and
                    for the Israelis to have open access to
                    Palestinian rank-and-file leaders.

                    Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was
                    not informed in advance of the meeting, the
                    sources said. But Arafat agreed to allow PLC
                    members to meet with Netanyahu's representatives
                    in Rhodes next month.

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Sunday, June 28, 1998       4 Tammuz 5758 
Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition


                    PM dumps referendum for Mideast parley 

                    By HERB KEINON, MICHAL YUDELMAN, and news agencies
                    

                    JERUSALEM (June 28) - Prime Minister Binyamin
                    Netanyahu has lost interest in holding a
                    referendum on a West Bank pullout and instead
                    favors holding another international peace
                    conference on the Middle East, sources said
                    yesterday.

                    A source in the Prime Minister's Office said
                    Netanyahu would like to see more talks held along
                    the lines of the 1991 Madrid conference dealing
                    with regional - not bilateral - issues.

                    Netanyahu was quoted as saying in an interview
                    with the conservative Spanish newspaper ABC
                    yesterday that such a peace conference would be a
                    positive thing. The interview was published on the
                    eve of the scheduled arrival in Jerusalem today of
                    Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

                    The proposal to convene a conference that would
                    deal with regional issues, such as water and the
                    environment, is one Netanyahu has supported
                    recently during visits both to England and the US.

                    He was quoted in ABC as saying that such a meeting
                    could be helpful in resolving multilateral issues,
                    while bilateral talks with the Palestinians would
                    continue to take place in the US.

                    In Cairo, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
                    yesterday dismissed the proposal to convene
                    another international conference as a ruse to harm
                    the Oslo Accords.

                    Mubarak, who met with Aznar yesterday, said that
                    with this proposal Netanyahu wants to "do away
                    with the Madrid and Oslo processes, as well as the
                    principle of land for peace."

                    Aznar said in Cairo that he would support
                    convening another international peace conference
                    on condition that it would be a continuation of
                    the Madrid conference, and that it would encourage
                    the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

                    "I am not opposed to another conference, as long
                    as it does not destroy what was achieved up to
                    now, and will work toward furthering the peace
                    process," he said.

                    In his interview with the Spanish newspaper,
                    Netanyahu said that the peace process "won't move
                    forward as long as we don't have confidence that
                    the Palestinians will fight terror as they
                    promised."

                    Netanyahu also said that Palestinian Authority
                    Chairman Yasser Arafat has to decide whether "he
                    prefers signing a peace treaty with Israel or with
                    Hamas terrorists. It is easier to do this with
                    Hamas, but I am trying to compel him to choose the
                    other option."

                    Regarding the referendum, which was the subject of
                    intense discussion last week, political sources
                    said over the weekend that Netanyahu abandoned the
                    initiative last Thursday, when it became clear he
                    does not have a Knesset majority for it.

                    The prime minister feared he might lose his
                    coalition, especially due to the opposition of
                    Shas and the haredi parties, the sources said.

                    Shas leader MK Aryeh Deri made it clear he was not
                    about to agree to a referendum without an adequate
                    exchange, such as a number of haredi national
                    radio stations.

                    The religious parties also decided to object to a
                    referendum when they realized the next issues to
                    be determined by referendum might be religious
                    ones, such as separation of state and religion,
                    conversion, and civil marriage.

                    Nevertheless, Communications Minister Limor
                    Livnat, who was charged last week with the
                    technical preparations for holding a referendum,
                    has received no instructions to cease her
                    intensive activity, Israel Radio reported
                    yesterday.

                    Labor Party leader Ehud Barak yesterday again
                    attacked the referendum idea as a trial balloon.

                    "What we had here was a 'referendum interruptus'
                    whose results were known in advance, whose
                    intention was merely to stall, and whose price
                    could be bloodshed," Barak said.

                    Barak noted, however, that if "this strange
                    government, in which anything is possible, does
                    hold this public opinion survey it calls a
                    referendum," Labor would call on its supporters to
                    vote in favor of the redeployment.

                    "We'll show Netanyahu and the country that the
                    radical right wing and settlers are isolated in
                    their objection to the pullout," he said.


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