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Palestinian Rift
Just A Blip?

Jerusalem
"Israeli and Palestinian negotia-
nt tors, long at odds over a host of
issues, again cannot even agree on
whether the suspended peace talks
have reached a crisis.
Last week, the Palestinian
Authority released one of the top
Hamas officials in the Gamma Strip,
Abdel Aziz Rantissi. Release of the
outspoken critic of the peace
process was widely seen as a slap
in Israel's face.
On the Israeli side, there are
optimistic voices suggesting that
the present difficulties, like so
many before, will drift away.
But the Palestinians are insisting
their suspension of the talks is not
tactical, but reflects a real rupture of
trust between Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak and Palestinian
Authority President Yasser Arafat.
There is an abiding Palestinian
suspicion that the Israeli-Syrian
negotiations, though now also sus-
pended, will resume and shunt
aside their own peace process with
the Israelis. They feel Barak, given
the choice, would prefer a quick
deal with the Syrians to inevitably
divisive negotiations with the
Palestinians on a final peace
accord, which both sides have
agreed to reach by September.
The Palestinians cite three rea-
sons for the crisis — all of which
reflect, they say, the highhanded
treatment Barak has given them:
• The Palestinian Cabinet
rejected Israel's maps for an Israeli
withdrawal from an additional 6
percent of the West Bank because
the areas involved did not include
the Jerusalem suburbs of Abu Dis
and a-Ram. Israel has repeatedly
maintained that it has sole say in
determining which lands would
be turned over.
• The Palestinians claim Barak's
decision to defer this week's dead-
line for drafting a framework agree-
ment -- and by implication, the
entire effort to reach this frame-
work -- was made unilaterally
• Palestinian officials are dis-
turbed by what they say is Barak's
refusal to recommit himself pub-
licly to the September deadline for
reaching the final peace accord. Ell

—David Landau/JTA

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