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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (236)	1/2/2001 11:14:16 PM
From: sandintoes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23908

Why did Clinton have Arafat at the White House today? He should have included Bush, it would have been the only correct thing to do. foxnews.com Arafat Meets Clinton, Seeks 'Clarifications' on Arab-Isreali Peace Plan Tuesday, January 2, 2001 Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with President Clinton in Washington Tuesday in what may be the last reasonable chance at reaching a Mideast peace agreement during Clinton's mandate. Stephen J. Boitano/AP Arafat met with Clinton Tuesday afternoon for two hours of "clarifications" on a U.S. outline for a negotiated settlement with Israel. Arafat arrived for a second round of talks at about 9:45 p.m. at the White House residence with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and CIA director George Tenet in attendance along with Clinton. The talks ended after only about an hour, with no signs that any agreement had been reached. President Clinton's peace proposals include a trade-off on two of the most emotionally loaded points of contention between Israelis and Palestinians: the status of Jerusalem and the fate of displaced Palestinian refugees. No final political settlement can be reached without resolving them. Under the plan, Israel, which claims sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, would back off of its demands for control of holy sites in East Jerusalem — a traditionally Arab sector. In exchange, the Palestinians would considerably scale back their demand on a "right of return" for millions of refugees driven out during of Israel. The blueprint has drawn strong reservations from Palestinians and Israelis alike. The Palestinian negotiators have criticized the outline, saying it would reward Israel for illegally settling areas of the West Bank and rebuff the rights of Palestinians to return to Israel. Arafat has told Clinton he would make his response to the proposals only after hearing Clinton's clarifications. Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Monday: Israeli police officers collect evidence at the scene of a car bombing in the Israeli city of Netanya. At least 34 were injured. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Israel had raised questions, too, and the U.S. objective was to see if there was a "common understanding" on what to do next. Barak Skeptical Clinton spoke by telephone Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to discuss ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence, but there was no indication that Barak would journey to Washington as well. Last week, Israel accepted Clinton's proposals as a basis for a negotiated settlement if Arafat accepted them as well — but toughened its position after the Fatah faction of the PLO called last week for a renewed uprising against Israel. Barak on Tuesday said he doubted Arafat's seriousness about concluding a deal before Clinton leaves office. "President Clinton has three weeks left, and it's unlikely an agreement will be reached in the last three days or week of his term," Barak said on Israeli army radio. "Since Arafat has wasted most of this time in dragging his feet ... we have very serious doubts about the seriousness of his intentions to reach an arrangement." The soft-line Israeli leader is running far behind in the polls in his bid for re-election against Likud leader Ariel Sharon. Clinton's presidency ends Jan. 20, and President-elect Bush has given no indication that he will address the Arab-Israeli conflict with the intensity Clinton has shown in the past eight years. Cycle of Violence in Gaza Strip Meanwhile, ongoing violence complicated prospects that a peace deal could be reached soon. New violence in the Gaza Strip came just a day after more than three dozen Israelis were hurt in a car bombing in the coastal city of Netanya. Jonathan Shaoul/AP Monday: Israeli medics arrive at a hospital near Netanya with a victim of a car bomb that exploded in the busy center of the coastal city. Near the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, seven Palestinians were wounded when soldiers opened fire on them from a jeep, Palestinian hospital officials said. The army said it was checking the report. And in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian farmer was killed by Israel troops guarding the Jewish settlement of Dugit. The troops opened fire after a roadside bomb wounded an Israeli soldier. A second soldier was hurt in another explosion. Later, Palestinian gunmen ambushed Israeli motorists along a major highway straddling the invisible line between Israel and the West Bank. Two Israelis were wounded. The farmer's death raised to 299 the number of Palestinians killed since an uprising against Israeli occupation began three months ago. Fifty-six Israelis, 13 of them Arab citizens of the Jewish state, have also been killed in the unrest. Tensions rose over the New Year's weekend after Palestinians attacked a car carrying a family of Jewish settlers in the West Bank on Sunday. The driver, Binyamin Kahane, and his wife were killed and five of their six children were hurt. That same day, Thabet Thabet, a senior West Bank official in Arafat's Fatah faction was killed. In response to the car bombing Monday, Israeli troops tightened their blockade of Palestinian towns, in effect since mid-November. Israel also closed the Palestinian airport in Gaza, and shut down border crossings between Gaza and Egypt, as well as the West Bank and Jordan. In Gaza, Israeli soldiers closed three main thoroughfares Tuesday, effectively cutting the strip in half.