New York Times - 10/23/98
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
QUEENSTOWN, Md. -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat early Friday agreed on a
breakthrough land-for-peace deal on the violence-scarred West Bank, the culmination of nine days of intense negotiations mediated
by President Clinton.
''An agreement has been reached between the two parties,'' White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Friday morning as the
president left the Wye Plantation after 21 hours of talks with Netanyahu and Arafat and their tops aides. The negotiations ended just
as the first glow of dawn rose above the Chesapeake Bay marshes.
Clinton planned to announce the agreement upon his arrival at the White House, where the Israelis and Palestinians will join him,
Lockhart said.
The president spent about 78 hours over seven days at the secluded Wye River Conference Center to press Netanyahu and Arafat
to make ''the hardest decisions'' so their peoples can live together in peace. The last session went from 10 p.m. EDT Thursday until
6:30 a.m. today.
Jordan's King Hussein also used his influence with the two leaders to urge them to agreement. Twice, he traveled to the secluded
conference site and appealed for peace ''for their children and their children's children,'' said State Department spokesman James
P. Rubin.
''I hope the parties will seize this opportunity and not retreat from the clear moment to capture the momentum of peace and keep it
moving forward,'' Clinton said on his way to the rural Maryland talks on Thursday.
For Clinton, now operating under a domestic cloud as he faces impeachment hearings, his investment in the talks was seen as a
win-win situation as he put his administration on the line to break a 19-month-old peace process impasse.
Under the deal, the Palestinians will eliminate anti-Israel language in their founding charter and the Israelis will free scores of alleged
Arab political prisoners, U.S. and Palestinian officials said today.
Agreement was delayed for a few hours while negotiators haggled over how the Palestinians will take up the issue of the 1964
charter.
Netanyahu has said he wants the full Palestine National Council to convene and revoke the PLO founding charter, which calls for
dismantling the Jewish state. But other Israelis would settle for the smaller Palestine Central Committee to begin the process.
According to the Palestinian daily Al Ayam, which is close to the Palestinian Authority, Arafat has not agreed to reconvene the
Palestine National Council.
The Israelis and Palestinians began meeting at this rural Maryland plantation on Oct. 15. The Americans have pressed for
agreement on interim issues in the 1993 Oslo peace accords, which have been stalled for 19 months.
After breaking the impasse, final status talks could begin on more tough issues, including Palestinian statehood, Jerusalem's future,
borders and refugees _ all matters to be decided by a May 4 deadline.
Key elements of a deal fell into place Thursday. According to Israeli and Palestinian officials, the two sides tentatively have agreed
to:
Have the Israelis release several hundred of 3,000 jailed Palestinians, whom Arafat calls political prisoners.
A security plan with a timetable for Palestinians to arrest alleged terrorists and confiscate weapons, under CIA supervision. Israeli
dropped its insistence that suspects be extradited to Israel.
A 13 percent Israeli troop pullback from the West Bank.
Establishment of a joint Israeli-Palestinian committee to discuss a third troop withdrawal, which the Palestinians had hoped to nail
down here.
Unresolved issues going into the overnight bargaining included:
Opening a Palestinian airport in Gaza.
Providing safe passage for Palestinians moving between Gaza and other Palestinian areas.
The Clinton administration is also hoping to get the Israelis to call a ''time out'' on building new Jewish settlements and persuade
Arafat to withdraw his threat to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state on May 4. |
