GS CELEB

No Palestine a.. Yet

Yasser Arafat backs down temporarily
from a unilateral declaration of a state.

JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent

Washington

or months, officials in
Washington had feared a
diplomatic earthquake on
May 4, when Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat, terming it a
"sacred date," threatened to unilateral-
ly declare a Palestinian state.
Instead, next week's long-feared
deadline may pass with barely a rum-
ble, thanks to intensive U.S.-
Palestinian diplomacy and a new ini-
tiative from Washington that promis-
es to intensity U.S. mediation efforts
after the upcoming Israeli elections.
But a major eruption could still
take place after that if the election
results in another hardline govern-
ment led by Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu — and if Arafat, capitaliz-
ing on his recent tour of world capi-
tals promoting statehood, decides to
opt out of a stalled Oslo process.
Although Arafat described this week's
U.S. initiative as more than positive,"
the Palestinians gained only some of
what they pressed for during months of
quiet negotiations and public diplomacy
— including a private presidential state-
ment expressing support for Palestinian
aspirations for self-determination.
Palestinian officials portrayed that
as an incremental move toward official
U.S. acceptance of an eventual
Palestinian state; U.S. officials said it was
a restating of longstanding U.S. policy.
President Bill Clinton also pro-
posed accelerated "final status" talks
that he hopes will be concluded in a
year, but he avoided the explicit target
date the Palestinians had sought.
"I wouldn't call it a deadline; I
would call it an objective, and a sense
of what is possible if there is a good-
faith effort on both sides," said State
Department spokesman James Rubin.
Israelis saw it differently. The
Palestinians "wanted a hard date for
completion of permanent status
talks," said Dore Gold, Israel's U.N.
ambassador. It is my understanding
they got another target date. If there
was a hard deadline, there would have
been no incentive for the Palestinians
to negotiate."

F

The administration also called on
both sides to continue implementing
their commitments under the Oslo
and Wye agreements after the May 4
deadline passes.
Jewish activists say a promise to
declare a state by the end of the year is
the likeliest option for the Palestinians
if Netanyahu is re-elected and assem-
bles a hard-line government.
Joel Singer, the former legal adviser
to the Israeli Foreign Ministry and one
of the key architects of the first Oslo
accord, said Arafat will cash in recent-
ly gained chits with the Europeans for
economic support of the faltering
Palestinian economy; others say he
will use them primarily to blunt U.S.
criticism if he does make a statehood
declaration after the election.
But Israeli officials worry about
recent statements suggesting the
Palestinians may try to stake out a
statehood claim based on United
Nations Resolution 181—the U.N.
partition plan of 1947.
Under the Oslo agreement, state-
hood and issues such as the capital of
any Palestinian entity must be decid-
ed through bilateral negotiations;
under Resolution 181, they are taken
as givens, Israeli officials say.
Gold insisted it is not clear if the
new focus on the U.N. partition plan
is another maneuver by Arafat intend-
ed to put pressure on the government
in Jerusalem — or a genuine shift in
strategy that could up the ante in
Palestinian demands for territory.
"Either way it is a violation of the
basic process of Madrid," he said. "We
see this as a very bad development." 1-1

`No Mistakes 9

Gaza City UTAH

Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat gave his strongest indica-
tion yet that he will postpone a uni-
lateral declaration of statehood.
"We are going through a very deli-
cate period in the history of our peo-
ple, a period during which we cannot
afford making any mistakes," he said.
Tuesday before a meeting of the
Palestinian Central Council. We don't
need to affirm our state because we are
actually exercising statehood." I I

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Detroit Jewish News

4/30
1999

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