**Whatever may be its shortcomings, the latest agreement is good news not only because it moves Palestinians and Israelis closer to peace; it will also make it possible for negotiators in Israel and Syria to resume the peace talks Israel broke off in 1996.
THANKS to good-faith negotiations by Palestinians and Israeli officials and a nudge from Secretary of State Albright of the United States, the long-delayed momentum for peace in the Middle East has al last been resumed.
Palestinians and Israeli officials have just signed an agreement providing for another pullback of Israeli forces from Arab territory. This agreement would give the Palestinians more qualitative land, as opposed to barren areas that were given on previous occasions. It would link more towns and villages but would not give the Palestinians complete contiguity of territory because of Jewish settlements. The accord will implement a peace agreement that the Palestinians and Israel's government. then headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, entered into last October as a result of President Clinton's intervention.
Under the agreement. Israel will begin to relinquish in three Stages another 11 percent of land it holds in the West Bank, completing the withdrawal by next January. The extent of the pullback had already been agreed to: the pact was made possible when the Palestinians accepted an Israeli proposal for a release of 350 prisoners.
It is very doubtful that they would have made this important concessions if Netanyahu had still been in office. The Palestinians never trusted Netanyahu. He made deals with
the Palestinians only when he was forced to. signing the Wye River accord last fall mainly because of Clinton and late King Hussain’s relentless pressure. Progress since then has been agonisingly slow.
Israel's new leader. Ehud Barak, is a very different sort of prime minister: a former general who' is committed to the principle of exchanging occupied land for peace. This principle has been the basis for ev-' ery Arab-Israeli accord in more than thirty years and it is one
that Netanyahu rejected.
It is probably not a coincidence that the new agreement was reached after U.S. Secretary of State Albright arrived on the scene to push the two sides closer together. The history of the Middle East contains ample evidence that U.S. intervention is almost always an essential ingredient to a successful Arab-Israeli negotiation.
The new agreement has left the least tractable issues, such as, borders, Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Palestinian refugees, and the future of occupied Arab East Jerusalem, until last. A final peace agreement would be reached by next September, settling the most difficuK"questions of co'htfol of Jerusalem and possible Palestinian statehood. .
Latest reports coming out from Israel indicate .that Ehud Barak may be ready to recognise a Palestinian state but with conditions attached that Yasser Arafat would find both tempting and painful to accept. Barak is ready to recognise a Palestinian state early next year, after complete implementation of the Wye accord. In return. the Palestinians would postpone discussion of
Jerusalem and the four million refugees. These two issues were supposed to be part of the final status negotiations.
If these reports are true, it would be something Arafat would be tempted to consider. He is 70 and in poor health. He has spent his entire life fighting for such recognition from Israel. But it would also create a problem as any attempt to drop the refugees and Jerusalem issue from the final status talks would be seen by many of his followers as a betrayal. Moreover. the longer the future status of Jerusalem remains unresolved, the greater the probability of more Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians would like to see as the capital of their state.
The fate of the Palestinian refugees is also a central issue that cannot be ignored for too long. Currently there are about four million refugees, many of them languishing in camps in the occupied territories and in Lebanon. Syria and Jordan. Unless some attempts are made for their rehabilitation, they tvil! become a permanent focus of instability for the entire region. Without a just solution for them, it is unlikely that a com-preherisive negotiated peace can ever be agreed upon. Israel will be surrounded by communities of Palestinians who have not forgotten the fact of dispossession. Moreover, their presence could also undermine the stability of their host countries.
Whatever may be its shortcomings. the latest agreement is good news not only because it moves Palestinians and Israelis closer to peace; it will also make it possible for negotiators in Israel and Syria to resume the peace talks Israel broke off in 1996. If the past is any indication, any successful negotiation between these two countries must be based on reliable guarantees of peace and security in return for a withdrawal from Arab land, specifically. the Golan Heights.
The possibility of such a deal is much brighter now than it was a week ago. thanks to the latest achievement by the Palestinians and Israelis.