Netanyahu says he won't budge on tunnel

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September 29, 1996
Web posted at: 2:00 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT)

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said an archaeological tunnel opened in Jerusalem last week is a topic not open for negotiation with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu said on CNN's "Late Edition" that this week's planned summit in Washington was an excellent way to "jump start" the sagging Mideast peace process, but he flatly refused to put the tunnel on the agenda for his talks in Washington with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat

"It's not on my table and won't be on our table because there is something far deeper here," Netanyahu said.

Complaining that Jews have long been slandered as "the enemies of mankind," Netanyahu said that the Palestinian charge that Israel was undermining holy Islamic sites was "a complete and utter fabrication."

"The tunnel has nothing to do with these disturbances," Netanyahu said. "It has nothing to do with any religious site. It is merely an archeological site that has been excavated 2,000 years ago."

Netanyahu told CNN that he spoke with Arafat twice last week when violence broke out, urging him to curb the Palestinian anger.

"I would like to see the Palestinian Authority keep its end of the bargain, and do what it needs to do to keep security," Netanyahu told CNN. "And we will do what we're supposed to do on our side."

Netanyanhu's sentiments immediately drew criticism from Palestinians.

"Mr. Netanyahu started this tunnel with all its provocations and it's one of the issues that has to be dealt with," said Nabil Sha'ath, the Palestinian planning minister, during a live interview on "Late Edition" following the broadcast of Netanyahu's interview. "Is Mr. Netanyahu serious? Does he really want to apply this peace process?"

Sha'ath said the Israeli prime minister is not committed to the 1993 peace accords hammered out in Oslo, Norway.

"Mr. Netanyahu does not really understand the agreement we signed in Oslo, which is to maintain the status quo," Sha'ath said.

Meanwhile, Dennis Ross, the U.S. State Department's special Mideast coordinator, said on NBC Television's "This Week With David Brinkley" that the United States will not immediately offer solutions to the crisis when the parties come to the table in Washington this week.

"When we get them together, they will not be shy about anything," Ross said. "What we have to do is create a re-engagement on their part ... get them together to find a way to end the violence."

Related stories:

• Netanyahu, Arafat to attend White House summit - September 29, 1996
• Violence subsides in Israel as diplomats push for talks - September 28, 1996
• Palestin ian-Israeli violence subsides - September 28, 1996
• Mideast clashes tempered by start of Jewish sabbath - September 27, 1996
• Seven Palestinians die in clashes in West Bank - September 26, 1996
• Peres: Netanyahu wants 'peace for nothing' - September 26, 1996
• Palestinians, including police, again battle Israeli troops - September 26, 1996
• Israeli archaeological digs heighten Mideast tensions - September 24, 1996

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• Islamic Association for Palestine

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