Arafat rejects latest West Bank offer

January 8, 1997
Web posted at: 1:05 p.m. EST (1805 GMT)

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat on Wednesday rejected an Israeli timetable for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank.

U.S. envoy Dennis Ross presented the offer to the Palestinian leader in what an Arafat aide described as an "extremely tense" six-hour meeting that began late Tuesday.

"The talks have hit a serious crisis," Arafat spokesman Nabil Abourdeneh told the Voice of Palestine radio. "The Israelis are threatening the peace process by making such proposals."

Ross simply said: "We have not resolved all the differences yet."

Details of the proposal were not immediately clear. But Arafat's rejection of the offer came a day after he turned down another Israeli proposal that troop redeployment from rural areas of the West Bank be delayed until 1999.

Arafat reportedly insisted on Wednesday that the Israeli withdrawal from most of the West Bank be completed by September 1997, as stipulated in a 1995 deal signed by Netanyahu's predecessors.

Ross has been trying to arrange a meeting between Arafat and Netanyahu so the two could conclude the agreement on Hebron and further West Bank withdrawals. The first meeting between the two leaders was held privately Sunday night.

Diplomatic sources have termed the Hebron talks "very close," "imminent" or down to the "last couple of issues" for two weeks, but the two sides have been unable to agree on steps to be taken after the Hebron redeployment.

Meanwhile, a helicopter remained outside Netanyahu's Jerusalem office, ready to whisk him off to Gaza for a possible summit with the Palestinian leader if Arafat and Ross had reached a deal. But as the helicopter waited, Netanyahu was denouncing the Oslo accords, calling them a "bad agreement" he inherited. (867K/10 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

The Palestinians have demanded that Israel stick to the date previously agreed upon, while Netanyahu has said he wants the final redeployment tied to the conclusion of all Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

Jerusalem Bureau Chief Walter Rodgers and Reuters contributed to this report.

 

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Related sites:

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• Israeli Office of Foreign Ministry....a copy of the 1995 Agreement
• U.S. State Department: Israel travel warning
• Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Islamic Association for Palestine
• Arab.net
• Virtual Jerusalem

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