-Caveat Lector-
From Ha'aretz
http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/htmls/kat3_3.htm
Monday, November 1, 1999
Barak will offer statehood to Palestinians in February accord
PM to demand Palestinian recognition of West J'lem as Israeli capital
By Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz Correspondent
The framework agreement to be signed by Israel and
the Palestinians this coming February will include
Israeli acceptance of the establishment of a Palestinian
state in part of the territories, according to the results
of informal contacts between Israel, the United States
and the Palestinian Authority.
The actual establishment of the Palestinian state will
occur on the eve of the signing of the detailed final
agreement, which is slated for the end of next year.
Senior diplomatic sources explain that Israel prefers to
sign an agreement with a recognized state rather than
with a temporary authority or the Palestine Liberation
Organization, which has signed agreements until now.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak would prefer that the
implementation of the framework agreement take
place only after the signing of the fully detailed
agreement, but he does not object to the principle of
the Palestinians' establishing their independent entity
in any way they choose - including a sovereign state -
as part of the framework agreement.
As a result of recent contacts between the parties, it
appears Barak wants the framework agreement to
include several key points:
l There will be no return to the 1967 borders
l Settlements around Jerusalem and along the Green
Line will be concentrated into three main blocks
l Settlers choosing to remain in the
Palestinian-controlled areas will get special rights - as
will Palestinians choosing to remain in the
Israel-controlled areas
l Jerusalem will remain undivided but will be
expanded to include Palestinian neighborhoods, with
the Palestinians recognizing West Jerusalem as Israel's
capital. (No decision has been reached on the fate of
the Old City. According to one proposal, offered by
Ministers Yossi Beilin and Haim Ramon, the Old City
would remain on the negotiating table for future talks.)
l The Palestinians will give up the right of return to
territory inside the Green Line, but the refugees
from 1967 will be allowed back into the territories
according to the new entity's ability to absorb them.
Israel will compensate the refugees from 1948 for
their lost property and will enlist international support
for their rehabilitation outside Israel.
l The Palestinian state will be demilitarized, and will
not sign any military agreements with states hostile to Israel.
l The two sides will establish security arrangements to
protect both states from external threats.
So far, the United States is backing the Palestinians'
position calling for implementation of the framework
agreement immediately upon its signing in February
2000. According to an Israeli source close to the
Palestinians, PA negotiators Abu Mazen and Abu Ala
convinced PA Chairman Yasser Arafat that operative
moves toward the establishment of a Palestinian state,
even within temporary borders, should begin
immediately after the signing of the framework of
principles.
Barak knows that it is difficult to make a deal between
a sovereign state and a national liberation movement.
Such a deal is bound to last only as an interim
agreement in which one side remains the occupier
and the other remains the occupied. None of the
agreements signed since Oslo, through the Sharm el
Sheikh agreement, touched on the issue of
sovereignty. So far, all the agreements have dealt
with the division of responsibility, whether civilian or
military, between the state of Israel and the
temporary Palestinian Authority. The Americans
maneuvered within this assymetric equation by
referring to them as "the Israeli side and the
Palestinian side."
But final status agreements are different. The PLO
cannot be a partner to an international agreement
that settles the conflict between two sovereign states.
For example, the PLO cannot commit the Palestinian
entity to refrain from military alliances with elements
hostile to Israel.
Thus, heading into the final status talks, the issue of
the partner has raised the question of the Palestinian
state. How can Israel sign an agreement with a state
before it is established? Especially when Israel's
agreement to the establishment of such a state is an
important negotiating card.
Barak's solution is found in the two-stage framework
laid down at Sharm. A Palestinian entity will be the
first article mentioned in the framework agreement
to be signed in February. That will allow Arafat to
establish an independent state within the temporary
borders of Area A on the eve of the signing of the
final, detailed agreement - and allow the prime
minister to head into a referendum with a draft
treaty with a state, not with a former national
liberation (terror) organization.
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