Middle East Crisis Headlines – 1/9/2000
Middle East Crisis Headlines – 1/9/2000
In one of the biggest demonstrations ever in Jerusalem, at least 200,000 Israelis came to the gates of the Old City last night to protest against President Clinton’s peace plan which calls for the division of Jerusalem. They waved Israeli flags and sang Biblical songs as the ancient walls of Jerusalem and David’s Citadel reflected a mystical purple, green and blue. “Clinton’s plan will bring war; it’s a disaster,” Stuart Berger, an immigrant from Long Island, told “israel today.” “It’s not a peace plan, it’s a plan to take Israel and chop it into pieces.” The demonstration was organized by Knesset member and former Prisoner of Zion Natan (Anatoly) Sharansky. “[Jerusalem] was the center of our dreams, of our prayers and of our struggle. It is the heart of our people and we cannot give away our heart,” Sharansky said. When Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert mentioned President Clinton in a speech, the crowd booed. Among the posters displayed by the crowd was one which read, “Jerusalem is David’s city, not Arafat’s.” Another read, “The Temple Mount is Ours.”
Palestinian leader Yasser says he cannot accept Clinton’s peace plan because it failed to meet two main demands—sovereignty over Arab East Jerusalem and the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees. “The plan…that deprives the refugees of their rights will not be accepted because…the refugee issue is a very important one and is a red line along with the issue of Jerusalem and sovereignty over al-Haram al-Sharif [i.e. the Temple Mount],” Arafat told the Saudi Arabian newspaper “Okaz,” in an interview published today. However, Arafat said talks will continue to try to bridge the gaps. “We will continue until the last minute with the Clinton administration to realize peace,” he said. “And if it is not achieved, then definitely we will continue these efforts with the Bush administration.” US envoy Dennis Ross is due in the region tomorrow for talks with Arafat and Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
In the wake of the Palestinian rejection of the US plan, Prime Minister Barak is lowering expectations for a deal before President Clinton leaves office. Barak says Clinton’s term could end in a presidential statement agreed to by both Israel and the Palestinians. “At the moment, there is more uncertainty than certainty…about what kind of presidential statement or other kind of declaration could be produced between the two sides and the United States,” Barak said during a video-conference with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and Washington. “Arafat dragged his feet for 10 days, rendering the achievement of an agreement almost impossible,” Barak said, adding that there may be difficult times ahead. “The entire Middle East is at a crossroads. Whatever is not achieved in the near future might not be achieved for a long time. In the absence of an agreement, both sides may face uncertainty, instability, and the mutual challenge of avoiding a deterioration in the situation.” Barak has been warning over the past week that the region could be headed toward war.
Israeli and Palestinian military commanders meet today in a follow up to a security meeting over the weekend headed by CIA chief George Tenet. Israel’s Foreign Minister says both sides have accepted Tenet’s eight point plan for stopping more than three months of violence. But the violence is continuing. Israeli troops exchanged fire today with Palestinian gunmen who infiltrated a Jewish settlement in Gaza. Last night, Palestinian gunmen fired at an Israeli car along a road leading from Jerusalem to the community of Givat Zeev just outside the city, wounding a 12-year-old child. And as the Jerusalem mass rally got underway, Palestinian gunfire hit an apartment building in the city’s Gilo neighborhood but caused no casualties. It was the first attack on Gilo in a month. In clashes today, a 27-year-old Arab was shot dead by Israeli soldiers near Palestinian-ruled Nablus. The army says the incident occurred when a Palestinian mob was throwing stones at Israeli cars.