Jewish World Review August 7 , 2000 / 6 Menachem-Av, 5760
In denial |
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
WHEN THE official history of Camp
David 2000 is written, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
will go down as the man who blew it.
He was offered an independent
Palestinian state on 90% of the West Bank and Gaza and
shared control in Jerusalem. Instead of grabbing the
deal, the aging ex-terrorist lived up to his reputation
as the man who never misses an opportunity to miss an
opportunity.
He stubbornly demanded full
sovereignty over more than half of Jerusalem - something
the U.S. and Israel said was impossible. As a direct
result, the talks collapsed and the Palestinians walked
away with nothing. Or did they?
The fact is, according to some who
participated in the Camp David talkathon, major barriers
were broken during the more than two weeks of
discussions. And while they were put on hold, major
advances were made and major gaps breached - at least in
principle.
Among the more notable: Israel's
agreement to give up a significant portion of the West
Bank and the Palestinians' agreement to allow israel to
incorporate other settlements into Israeli territory.
The Israelis also agreed to recognize
a demilitarized Palestinian state and to return a limited
number of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel
proper. The Palestinians agreed to accept compensation
for other refugees and, once a deal is made, to proclaim
they have no more claims against the Jewish state.
Israelis, especially Prime Minister
Ehud Barak, were justifiably angry at Arafat for not
having the guts to take the extra little stretch that
would have resulted in a comprehensive deal. Ironically,
the empty-handed Arafat returned to a carefully
orchestrated hero's welcome.
Barak returned to a political
maelstrom that may cost him his government and force new
elections. He has a brief respite; the Knesset, Israel's
parliament, is in recess until October.
Most important, both Israeli and
Palestinian sides have indicated that they are continuing
discussions in small, almost informal committee meetings.
There's even talk of another Clinton-hosted summit after
the U.S. political conventions.
Besides, there are dozens of specifics
to be settled - not the least of them technical questions
such as the sharing of the Holy Land's precious water
supply. Fingers are crossed.
The danger is that Arafat will succumb to
his radicals and go ahead with his plan to unilaterally
declare a Palestinian state Sept. 13, before there's a
full deal. He told a Saudi newspaper he would; he told
reporters in Europe he was ready "to listen to the advice
of friends."
President Clinton has warned him that
it would have a profoundly negative effect on the peace
process. His administration is pushing Europe, Japan,
Egypt and Russia to do the same.
Meanwhile, one of the more tragic
fallouts from the political storm in Jerusalem was this
week's Israeli presidential elections. Opinion polls show
that more than 54% of the Israeli voting public wanted
veteran statesman Shimon Peres as their largely
ceremonial head of state. He was also Barak's choice -
and for that reason, he lost.
Israeli presidents are elected by the
Knesset. And while the politicos there failed to topple
the Barak government, they flexed their ire by defeating
Nobel Prize laureate Peres and electing a little known
right-wing moderate named Moshe Katzav.
The Iranian-born Katzav is a
relatively decent fellow and a sterling success story of
Israel's Mideastern immigrants. But Israel needed someone
of Peres' stature - especially on the international
scene.
I have disagreed with some of Peres'
starry-eyed visions of Arab-Israeli peace prospects. But
he is a historic figure, a man whose career of service to
Israel goes back to the days of David Ben-Gurion. He
deserved to be elected president, and the politicos who
voted against him out of spite should hang their heads in
By Richard Z. Chesnoff
JWR contributor and veteran journalist
Richard Z. Chesnoff is a senior correspondent at US News
And World Report and a columnist at the NY Daily News. His latest book is Pack of Thieves: How Hitler & Europe
Plundered the Jews and Committed the Greatest Theft in History.
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