Mideast Hopes Dim as Violence Flares

J E R U S A L E M, Jan. 5, 2001 -- A night of clashes during which a Palestinian was killed deepened skepticism today among Israelis and Palestinians that a peace deal could be reached before President Bill Clinton leaves office.

The Israeli army said troops shot a Palestinian dead nearthe Erez Crossing on the Israel-Gaza border as he was trying to cross a security fence to attack an army post.

It said its patrols and military posts came underPalestinian fire in 10 locations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip overnight.

The death, the first in three days, brought the toll from 14 weeks of violence to more than 300, mostly Palestinians.

The new violence cast a cloud over Washington’s efforts toinject new momentum into its bid to broker a historic peacetreaty before Clinton steps down on January 20.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s envoy, Gilead Sher, said after talks with U.S. officials in Washington that he did not expect Clinton to break the deadlock in the 15 days left of his presidency.

The pessimism was echoed by Palestinian negotiators who said disputes on the fate of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements and borders were too complicated to resolve in the short space of time left.

Sharon Leads in Polls

Opinion polls in Israeli newspapers today indicatedthat, should Clinton fail in his bid for a deal, Palestinians would probably have to contend with a hard-line Israeli government in future negotiations.

Polls predicted right-wing Likud leader Ariel Sharon wouldeasily defeat Barak in a prime ministerial election on February 6 and that his lead was increasing daily.

Nabil Shaath, a Palestinian cabinet minister and seniornegotiator, said the best he hoped for was for Clinton to put the talks back on track so his successor, George W. Bush, “would not inherit destroyed or explosive political conditions.”

Sher, chief of staff in Barak’s office, said in a telephoneinterview with Israel Radio from Washington that not only did he not expect a deal to be wrapped up under Clinton’s patronage, but he doubted much progress would be made in the coming weeks.

“I don’t expect there’s a great chance of it, I must say,”Sher said from the U.S. capital, where he was due to meetClinton later in the day.

Israel Focuses on Violence

Israel said Sher would focus his meetings on how to end thecurrent violence. But U.S. officials said he also would discuss Clinton’s peace proposals, accepted with reservations by both Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Arafat met Clinton at the White House on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the twosides were close on some aspects of a peace deal, but violence between the sides was “the real problem at the moment.”

“It’s absolutely essential for him [Arafat] to live up tothe various commitments that he made to try to lessen violence and get it under control,” Albright told a news conference in Washington.

A senior Palestinian official said the United States wouldhand Sher a list of 15 reservations which Palestinians gaveClinton, and Israel would have to decide if it wanted tocontinue peace negotiations.

A decision would then be made on whether to send aPalestinian peacemaking delegation to Washington, the official said.

Clinton’s proposals deal with issues at the core of 52 years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as the future of Jerusalem and sovereignty over its holy sites, the fate of Jewish settlements and the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

Penetrating the Soul of Arafat

In a telling indication of the stalemate between peace negotiators, Barak has said it’s difficult to tell what exactly is on the Palestinian leader’s mind and how it works. “I cannot penetrate the soul of Arafat,” said Barak in an interview with BBC television. “I cannot know in advance whether behind all the masks he’s a kind of leader that can reach an agreement or whether he wants to be the Moses of the Palestinians, staying in front of the river, not crossing it into the Promised Land,” he said.

After Arafat met nine Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo on Thursday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said the forum wanted the Palestinians to pursue negotiations, a stance which Palestinian officials hailed as supporting Arafat’s peace moves.

But in a speech in Tel Aviv Barak quickly reaffirmed thelimits of his bargaining position, saying he would never agree to a return of Palestinian refugees or concede Palestinian sovereignty over a Jerusalem shrine holy to Muslims and Jews.