Peace Proposals Grow With situation looking bleak, a spate of proposals are raised to move forward. LESLIE SUSSER Jewish Telegraphic Agency the Arabic press. The Arabic version would be accompanied by arguments against the continued use of violence. Jerusalem In Solana's vision, Hamas and Islamic Jihad would he old aphorism that things must get • then fall in line and relatively moderate Arab coun- worse before they get better fits today's tries like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia would Israeli-Palestinian conflict like a come out in support of the ceasefire. Israel would glove. then start withdrawing from Palestinian cities, along Twenty-two months of armed conflict the lines of the Peres formula. have taken their toll on both sides. Beyond Egyptian and Jordanian instructors would move in the dead and wounded, economic suffering has to train the reconstituted Palestinian security forces, reached new heights. which would be responsible for keeping the peace. A As the Israeli economy sinks into deeper recession, similar plan, by CIA Director George Tenet, has an and life for the Palestinians under curfew and clo- added proviso: Palestinian police would be screened sure becomes unbearable, both sides are looking for for credibility before they take over. a way out. The past few weeks have Peres' Palestinian counterparts on seen more creative thinking, open security and finance, P.A. Interior meetings, back channels and inter- Minister Gen. Abdel Razak Yehiyeh national involvement than at any and Finance Minister Salim Fayed, time in the past two years. have presented plans of their own. Those efforts might be derailed, at Yehiyeh put forward a more ambi- least temporarily, by Israel's airstrike tious, longer-term security propos- in Gaza early Tuesday morning, July al: The IDF withdraws to its posi- 23, which killed Hamas military . tions before the intifada (uprising) leader Salah Shehada and at least 15 erupted in September 2000. civilians. The attack was widely con- Palestinian forces move in and take demned internationally because of over security responsibility. the civilian casualty toll. Under Yehiyeh's plan, Israel and • Palestinian Authority leader Yasser the Palestinians then renew securi- Arafat called the attack a massacre ty cooperation and the Palestinians and said it had scuttled what he carry out Israel's major security claimed was a potential Hamas agree- demands: reducing the number of ment to suspend suicide bombings. different armed forces from over a For its part, Hamas vowed dozen to three under one unified vengeance, threatening to accelerate command; confiscating illegal violence, which had been largely weapons; and ending incitement under control since the Israel against Israel. Defense Forces reoccupied Fayed proposes a 100-day plan Palestinian towns and cities across for thorough reform of P.A. finan- the West Bank last month. cial practices. To create absolute Some Israeli analysts, however, say Palestinians pass by a destroyed house in Gaza City on July 23. An Israeli warplane openness, he is proposing that all the air strike, other recent military Palestinian funding go through just fired a heavy missile at the house, killing at least 15 people, including Salah Shehada, successes against Hamas and the one bank, and that he sign all commander of the military wing of Hamas, in a planned military strike. reoccupation itself have helped checks personally. restore Palestinian respect for Israeli Other, less official groups a power. That, they argue, could evoke more concilia- Israelis and Palestinians have been tory and creative Palestinian approaches that may To help alleviate Palestinian suffering, Peres has putting forward even farther-reaching proposals. In spur the diplomatic process forward. said that Israel is ready to release about 10 percent back channels, mainly in Israel and Europe, they For Israel, three issues are key: a ceasefire, reform of the Palestinian tax funds it has frozen — as soon have been sounding each other out — and drafting of the Palestinian armed forces and a Palestinian as a mechanism is set up, with American assistance, plans for a permanent peace deal. decision-making process that bypasses Arafat. For to guarantee transparency in the money's use. One of the more interesting proposals emerged the Palestinians, the immediate goals are an Israeli from a mid-July meeting in Belgium between Ziyad withdrawal from West Bank cities and alleviation of Abu Ziyad, the P.A. official formerly in charge of the population's day-to-day hardships. International View Jerusalem affairs, and a group of Israeli academics. Various formulas are being proposed to meet At the same time, European Union (EU) foreign Abu Ziyad published a statement of principles those goals. policy chief Javier Solana has been trying to arrange that included major Palestinian concessions on two a credible cease-fire. He is urging Arafat's Fatah of the issues that torpedoed the Camp David Leslie Susser is the diplomatic correspondent for the movement, with its Tanzim militia, to publish a uni- process: sovereignty over Jerusalem's Temple Mount Jerusalem Report. lateral cease-fire call in both the New York Times and and the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees. T iN 7/26 2002 26 In talks this months with Palestinian leaders other than Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has been trying to find creative solutions for all these problems. On withdrawal, Peres proposes a "Judea First" option, under which the IDF would withdraw from cities in the southern West Bank such as Jericho, Hebron and Bethlehem. If those places remain quiet, the IDF would start pulling out of northern cities like Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah. Peres has hinted that total withdrawal would be contingent on a clear Palestinian blueprint for new elections. The voting would take place as soon as Israel completes its withdrawal, and the outcome would have to guarantee that Arafat is neutralized. ANALYSIS