depend on whether "the Palestinians
are prepared to shoulder their respon-
sibilities and to agree to implement
them, to carry out their obligations in
a concrete way, in a specific time
schedule."
Clinton referred to a "significant
narrowing of the gaps between the
two parties across a wide range of
issues that were in the American ini-
tiative that we've been working on for
months."
In response to a question, he
refused to state a position on the cre-
ation of a Palestinian state, saying that
the issue "has to be resolved in the
final status negotiations as provided
for in the Oslo Accords."
The administration, which
increasingly views Arafat's threats to
unilaterally declare a Palestinian state
on May 4 as a major impediment in
their effort to restart the stalled talks,
had pressed the Palestinian leader
not to use his U.N. speech to seek
international support for such a dec-
laration.
That effort was only partially suc-
cessful.
Arafat did ask the international
body for support for Palestinian
statehood, but he stopped short of
saying he would issue a unilateral
declaration. The Palestinian leader
urged delegates to "stand by our peo-
ple, especially as the five-year transi-
tional period provided for in the
Palestinian-Israel agreements end on
May 4, 1999."
The Palestinian people, he said,
"await the establishment of their inde-
pendent state. This independent
Palestinian state must be established as
the embodiment of the right of our
people to self determination."
In a speech to a Mideast peace
group on Sunday, Arafat addressed the
terrorism issue in general terms.
"I would like to repeat our policy
of zero tolerance for terror and vio-
lence, which I will continue fighting
without hesitancy and without any
linkage to the stalled peace process,"
he said.
Jewish leaders say that was a step in
the right direction, but that Arafat will
have to back up his words with strong
and consistent action.
"He said 'zero tolerance,' but
what does that mean on the
ground?" asked Martin Raffel, direc-
tor of the Israel Task Force of the
Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
"It's clear that Israel wants real guar-
antees that the security situation is
going to improve." ❑

Strategic Shift

Unable to move Arafat or Netanyahu, U.S. officials
hope to buy some time for an extension of the Oslo deadlines.

JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent

T

his week's burst of Mideast
diplomacy, which included
the first face-to-face meet- •
ings between Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in
almost a year and an impromptu Oval
Office summit, reflected a shift in tac-
tics in the U.S. effort to break the 18-
month deadlock in
Israeli-Palestinian negoti-
ations.
With the May 4 dead-
line for the end of the
Oslo process looming,
the Clinton administra-
tion is now pushing hard •
for incremental agree-
ments intended to buy
more time for the falter-
ing negotiations to get
back on track.
Despite vigorous spin
over the weekend by
Israeli officials, who
insisted that an agree-
ment could be only days
away, administration
officials warned against
The Palestini
expecting any break-
Israeli 137..:
throughs.
The shift in adminis-
tration tactics centered
on working to seal agreements on sev-
eral interim issues, not on the sweep-
ing package originally conceived as the
last step before final status negotia-
tions.
At the same time, there was a
strong emphasis on convincing Arafat
to back away from what the adminis-
tration regards as inflammatory threats
to unilaterally declare a Palestinian
state in eight months.
Underlying the changing U.S. poli-
cy is the growing belief that time is
running out for the sagging peace
process.
"Going for an all-out agreement
clearly wasn't working, so they've
switched to a kind of incrementalism,"
said Robert 0. Freedman, president of
Baltimore Hebrew University and a

"The policy now is simply to pro-
duce an agreement," said Douglas
Feith, a National Security Council
staffer during the Reagan administra-
tion. "They'd be happy if the Israelis
caved in — or if the Palestinians
caved. They have no strategy beyond
`let's have a signing ceremony on the
White House lawn.'"
This week's frantic efforts to gen-
erate at least a partial agreement, he
said, reflect an administration
emphasis on the process itself, not on
an analysis of U.S.
• interests in the
g region.
The Netanyahu
government, he said,
§ continues to play
(1- along, even though it
• sees Oslo as a risky
basis for compro-
mise.
Netanyahu
•
"seems to think that
saying you're work-
ing toward a final
status settlement
within the Oslo
process, but never
quite getting there,
is the best possible
- 71-ion to the United Nations listened to an address by option."
But if Netanyahu
.:;iyarnin Netanyahu.
is stalling, he said, it
may ultimately play
into the hands of peace process sup-
met even if a full or partial rede-
porters.
ployment agreement can be concluded
"That strategy doesn't resolve
in the next few weeks. Now, U.S.
anything;
it doesn't put Israel on a
strategy is essentially an exercise in
new
course.
If that's the strategy, the
buying time, said Joel Singer, one of
problem is that Labor could.come
the architects of the original Oslo
back in and pick up where they left
agreement, since there is little expecta-
off."
tion the original deadline can be met.
Is the Clinton administration hop-
The goal of the negotiations is now
ing
that time will restore a Labor gov-
be "to find a way to pass this explosive
ernment
in Tel Aviv?
date without an explosion, without
"Nobody
will say it directly, but all
one party feeling it has been deceived
the
evidence
points to the fact that the
— be it Israel or the Palestinian side.
strategy now is to keep the flame from
The two sides must find a way to
going out entirely, buy time, and hope
allow more time."
that conditions on the ground
But peace process opponents say
change," said an analyst for a pro-
the latest flurry of administration
peace process group. "And that means
diplomacy reflects a counterproductive
a change in leadership in Jerusalem
unwillingness to give up on a failed
and' in Gaza."
Oslo formula.

leading Mideast analyst. "They're
scrambling to get as much as they can
get in advance of the May 4 deadline;
what's also clear is that they are expect-
ing less than they were a month ago."
Diplomatic officials here see no
alternative to the Oslo framework, but
concede that the May deadline for the
completion of the final status talks —
which will include the most con-
tentious issues of all, including
Jerusalem, water resources and the sta-
tus of Palestinian refugees — will not

❑

10/2
1998

Detroit Jewish News

9

