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TRADE TALKS

from page 22

up 78 to 90 percent of the West Bank.
"We have passed the stage of psy-
chological warfare. We know for sure
that this is it. The Jordan Valley issue
is on the negotiating table."

Conflicting Reports

Flexer said, however, that a senior offi-
cial from Barak's office told him,
"Don't make any waves, stay put,
everything is going to be all right."
Last weekend, Barak told a Labor
Party gathering that under his plan,
80 percent of the West Bank settlers
will remain under Israeli sovereignty.
Levy is not reassured. He fears that
the intention is to shrink the agricul-
tural settlements of the Jordan Valley
into small urban communities that
will not be viable.
. "They call us and tell us that it's all
bull, and this is what frightens us,"
said Dahaman of Megilot.
The Jordan Valley residents say
they asked for a meeting with Barak,
but have not been granted one.
"How is it possible that the prime
minister will not•meet with communi-
ty leaders like us?" Dahaman said.
"When Rabin was prime minister, we
used to meet him every few weeks."
The difference, of course, is that

when Yitzhak Rabin was premier,.
talks with the Palestinians had not
reached this delicate stage.
If, indeed, territorial -concessions in
the Jordan Valley are on the agenda, it
would be a major shift from past poli-
cy, even of Labor governments.
The Jordan Valley was conceived as
an essential eastern security belt, mostly
against a potential Iraqi invasion
through Jordan. It was to remain under
Israeli control no matter what. Levy is
convinced that Barak deviated from
Israel's traditional security concept only
because he bowed to American pressure.
Jordan Valley settlers are unim-
pressed by unconfirmed reports that
the settlements will not immediately
be turned over to the Palestinians, but
rather stay under Israeli sovereignty
for "an interim period of 10 years."
"Great," said Orit Artzieli with a
bitter smile. "They will let us dry out
for 10 years, and we can go home and
everything will be OK and there will
be peace."
But Dahaman promised this week
that this would not be the case. He
sounded like his counterparts on the
West Bank:
"We are about to launch a wide
political campaign. If need be, we
shall topple the government — and
we have the power to do so." 111

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years before his second five-year term
ends.
Some political observers link Shas'
equivocation about whom it will back
to an ongoing coalition crisis between
Shas and the secular Meretz Party.
Shas, they say, will seek further
concessions from Prime Minister
Ehud Barak in return for backing
Peres.
Some observers also say the pre-
mier is unenthusiastic about securing
Peres' victory.
Beyond the political speculation,
many Israelis are asking why the for-
mer prime minister is in the running
for the largely ceremonial office.
Why does Peres, 77, by far Israel's
best-known statesman, need to fight
yet another domestic political cam-
paign, presumably the last in his long
career of political battles at home?
One answer offered by those who
know Peres is that he needs to fight
this one in order to win it — and
thereby, at least in his mind, cancel
out the bitter and ignominious mem-

ories of past defeats, including his
1996 loss to Binyamin Netanyahu.
Ending his career as the nation's
president would, in this view, make
up for some of those past disappoint-
ments and leave his name emblazoned
on Israel's history as a winner, not a
loser.

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Peres himself declared last week that
he was now no longer a political or
party person. His primary commit-
ment henceforth was national unity,
he said, not the agenda of his Labor
Party.
Peres' aides insist that his days of
undercutting serving prime ministers
— memorably documented in former
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's 1979
autobiography — are long over.
Barak, they maintain, has no reason
to fear that a second center of power
would evolve in the President's
Residence if Peres were elected.
Still, Peres-watchers find it hard to
conceive of this active man restricting
himself to making bland speeches and
shaking innumerable hands. ❑

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