Page 6-The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, September 2, 1993
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[Cont'd, from page 1]
Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the opposition Likud party, blasted the plan and vowed to bring down the govem-' ment over the issue. He charged the Israeli government was throwing a lifeline to the PLO, which he s^id is bankrupt and remains committed to Israel's destruction.
The head of the Likud caucus in the Knesset, Mpshe Katsav, said the proposal paves the way for a Palestinian state.
"We are afraid this policy has only one significance: to put the cornerstone of the Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria," he told Israel Television.
He added: "And we believe that in a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria there is only one meaning: the destruction of Israel."
Settlers in the territories have roundly condemned the proposal and warned that disep divisions over it could erupt into a ftill-biown campaign of civil disobedience.
Within the government, Cabinet Secretary Elyakim Rubinstein, who heads the Israeli team negotiating with the Palestinians in Washington, was reported by Israel Television to be threatening to resign. Rubinstein is a holdover from the previous Likud govenmient.
Prime Minister Rabin, too, has been cautious about the proposed agreement, many of whose specific terms must still be worked out. " ;
Among other things, he is concerned that the Palestinians will seek to have a fiill withdrawal of Israeli forces from Giaza and Jericho, a move he is unprepared to make.
Rabin also wants to keep control of
the strategically important Allenby Bridge, a crossing point into Jordan that is located near Jericho,
Another point of concern is the status of Jewish settlers in Gaza, whose safety must be gtiaranteed.
D^pite speculation over the past few days regarding the Gaza/Jericho plan, most ministers were stunned to hear that an agreement had actually been reached with the Palestinians.
Even Rubinstein is said to have
known nothing of the agreement. According to sources in the Prime Minister's Office, Rubinstein said he would resign after hearing of the agreement, and both Rabin and Peres tried to dissuade him.
Meanwhile, Rubinstein has postponed his trip to Washington and is reportedly studying the agreement, which he had not seen before, but is to be the focus of diis week's talks. He will decide whether to continue in his post after Monday's cabinet meeting.
Shimon Sheves, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, has left for the U.S. to meet senior administration officials.and Jewish lexers and explam the agreement to them.
The talks with the PLO have also raised the possiblity of mutual recog^ nition in the near fiiture. According to the agreements, Israel would recognize the PLOi which in turn would recognize Israel; commit itself to stop terrorism; riot object to Israel's fight against other Palestinian organizations which persist in terrorist acts; and delete several offensive clauses from the PLO charter. '
Speaking to Israel's Army Radio station fi^m Tunis, PLO spokesman Vas-sir Abed-Rabbo said on Sunday that "in the coming days, we will be witness to a historic change in the relationship between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people, a change the two peoples have been waiting for a long time." ■ '
He insisted, however, that Israel and the PLO had come to an agreement not only on "Gaza/Jericho first," but also on a comprehensive agreement on autonomy in the territories, including withdrawal arrangements that would be implemented first in Gaza and Jericho.
"There is no special agreement for Gaza and Jericho separately," Abed-Rabbo said. "The agreement hoped for by the leaders was. reached, which relates to the establishment of an elected Palestinian authority in allthe Palestinian territories, an authority that will be elected by all Palestinian residents, including residents of Jerusalem.
Asked about the possibility of a Rabin-Arafat summit, Abed-Rabbo
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Y^isser Arafat
Bei^amin Netanyahu
said: "I don't exclude the possibility in the near future."
Rabin told ministers at the regular cabinet session on Sunday that the Palestinian representatives from the territories were simply unable to "deliver the goods."
Housing Minister Binyamin Ben-. Eliezer said after the meeting that he hoped an agreement with the Palestinians would be signed this week.
"AH the hopes and expectations we
had had from the PLO-Palestinian leadership in the territories led to nothing;," he said. "We realized it was hard to advance without everything being coordinated and sewn-up with the PLO. Yes, it's true, there were talks. But it should be remembered that an integral part of the agreement is that it stops terrorism, and that means that its ceases being the PLO."
Commenting on the attacks by the right-wing over the goverrmient's vio-
Yitzhak Rabin
lation of its promise not to talk to the PLO, Environment Minister Yossi Sarid said, "The masquerade ball is over. Two years ago, after the Madrid talks, the Likud government started talking to the PLO. What this government is doing is pulling the masks off, washing off die make-up, throwing the wigs away."
In the U.S., President Bill Clinton said, "I'm hopeful, but there's been a lot of these things before."
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By LEORA FRUCHT -
JERUSALEM - The head of die Jordan Valley Regional Council, David Levy, said he is confounded by die government's proposal to grant autonomy to Palestinians in Jericho, but strongly opposes calls to rebel or resort to violence in resisting the scheme. The nearest Jordan Valley setUement, Na'a^ ma, is some three kilometres from Jericho.
Levy told Israel R^io that he "could not believe that the Labor Party was speaking of the Gaza Strip and Jericho in die same breadi. For years there has
been a national consensus regarding die importance of die Jordan Valley to Israel's security,' ' he said. "On die odier hand, every political party knows that the Gaza Strip requires a different solution. Now I'm afraid we may be seeing die seeds of a Palestinian state sown
here in the Jordan Valley of all places!"
But Levy strongly condemned die talk of civil war and violent resistance which has been sounded by some settlement leaders. On Sunday, die Rabbinical Forum of Judea, Samaria and Gaza issued a statement warning that "the nation cannot quietly accept extreme acts of treachery towards the
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Land of Israel. Over Judea, Samaria and Gaza diere will be war," said die statement, which concluded widi an explicit warning to die government of civil war. "There is no room for such utterances," asserted Cohen. "Civil War is the beginning of the end for us.
We must oppose the Jericho self-rule proposal stubbomlyv but we must not lose our sense of proportion. All of us in die Jordan Valley. Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights have t6 maintain an open channel of communications with those who hold different, views. We must not forget diat we are all brothers."
