Wednesday, Apr 17, 2002
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By Kesava Menon
Negotiations at several levels are still under way to fill out the details of a declaration. But the whole process is still very tentative since suicide bombings by Palestinian militants cannot be ruled out and because Israel continues to make short incursions into Palestinian towns and villages and says it intends to put a captured Palestinian leader on trial. According to usually well-informed Israeli journalists, the cease-fire declaration being worked on will be a fairly comprehensive document. It will encompass not merely the intent of both sides to observe such a cease-fire and the steps that need to be taken in the fulfillment of it but would also take in security and confidence-building measures. An intent to re-start negotiations on substantive issues would also be included in the declaration. Gen. Powell was reportedly quite enthusiastic early on over an Israeli proposal for a regional peace conference but almost all Arab states have expressed themselves against the idea since they believe it is merely a delaying tactic by the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. In making the proposal, Mr. Sharon had said that the Palestinian Authority President, Yasser Arafat, should not be allowed to attend this conference. That stance would have most certainly aborted the conference idea since no Arab leader would attend if Mr. Arafat was not allowed to. There is talk now of a conference of Foreign Ministers. But while this gets around the no-Arafat obstacle it is not at all likely that hawks in the Israeli Cabinet would allow the Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, to be their main representative at the meeting. While Gen. Powell wants the Palestinians to sign on immediately to the cease-fire declaration, he has reportedly assured them that the implementation of its terms need only be taken up once Israel has withdrawn from the territories it invaded in the recent period. Mr. Sharon has said that he will withdraw his troops to pre-incursion positions within a week but Israeli troops have made short re-incursions after Mr. Sharon gave his assurance and there is no saying what could follow once Gen. Powell leaves the area. Another potential deal-making development has been the arrest of Mr. Marwan Barghouti, secretary general of Fatah in the West Bank and the most visible leader of the intifada. He was taken into custody by a commando unit and an elite counter-terrorism outfit yesterday and has been kept in a Jerusalem facility where he is reportedly being interrogated by Shin Bet. Hawks in the Israeli Cabinet have pressed for the trial of Mr. Barghouti (with some predictably enough calling for his hanging in public) while the doves have said that this would be an unwise move. The Palestinians have said that under the terms of previous agreements Israel has no right to put Mr. Barghouti on trial and have warned of dire consequences.
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