- _______ ____ ______ / |/ / /___/ / /_ // M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S / /|_/ / /_/_ / /\\ Making Sense of the Middle East /_/ /_/ /___/ /_/ \\ BARAK ALREADY SOUNDS LIKE BIBI http://www.MiddleEast.Org News, Information, & Analysis That Governments, Interest Groups, and the Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know! For latest informaton email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] SO, JUST WHAT'S REALLY CHANGED? MER - Washington, 2 June: Different styles and temperaments, true. Different supporters as well. And a chance for the Arafat group to take a deep breath and squander abit more time and hope, and for "liberal" American Jews to pretend some more, also true. But when it comes to actual policies...well there the differences are far harder to find. Indeed, just read this article in yesterday's Ha'aretz, Israel's leading newspaper, remembering that what Barak is doing now is precisely the same thing Netanyahu did last year. OK, we know...we've warned you to watch out for this kind of thing before! Good Cops/Bad Cops is a constant theme in Israeli manuevering when it comes to the political theatrics of dealing with both the Arabs and the Americans. Meanwhile, most importantly of all, the settlements continue to expand, the viable land continues to be gobbled up by the occupying power, the demolition of Palestinian homes continues, and for Jewish expansion purposes the borders of eastern Jerusalem have now been extended far into the desert further severing the West Bank with a stretch now annexed to Israel. BARAK MAY "SKIP" TO FINAL STATUS TALKS By David Makovsky, Diplomatic Correspondent [Ha'aretz, 1 June 1999]: Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak is considering whether to consult with the U.S. and the Palestinians about not implementing the Wye agreement and instead jumping directly to final status talks, Labor Party sources say. According to aides, Barak is planning to omit the implementation of the Wye agreement from the coalition guidelines, although they will mention the Oslo accords. Until now, the Palestinians and the U.S. have been assuming that Barak would immediately implement the last two stages of the Wye accord when he becomes prime minister. In 1995, after he joined the Rabin government, Barak was the only member of the inner circle dealing with peace negotiations who opposed the interim pullbacks put forward in the Oslo II agreement, preferring that everything be left for the final accord. Should Barak hold consultations, they will be based on the premise that his government will have the political clout - which the Netanyahu government lacked - to deliver a final status deal, and hence there is no need for interim steps. According to a Labor Party source, "Barak is considering talking to the U.S. and the Palestinians about not implementing Wye and going straight to final status. He has not made a final decision. "However, even if he does so, he would not unilaterally jump to final status against the wishes of the U.S. and the Palestinians, since [Wye] is an international agreement signed by the government of Israel." The Netanyahu government withdrew from 2 percent of the estimated 13 percent of the territories due to be handed over under the Wye agreement. Barak's thoughts of skipping over the Wye agreement comes at the same time as he has told the National Religious Party (NRP) that settlement activity can continue under certain conditions. "Barak said clearly that he won't freeze settlements," stated NRP head Education Minister Yitzhak Levy. Even if Barak goes ahead with Wye, keeping mention of it out of the government's statement of principles could also make it easier for Barak to woo right-wing elements such as the NRP. "We are worried about the intentions of this new government. During its campaign, the Labor Party said funds would be for schools, not settlements," said Faisal Husseini, the top PLO official in Jerusalem. "To bring into the government parties that support settlement makes us wonder about the intentions of this government. ________________________________________________________________ M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S http://WWW.MiddleEast.Org [EMAIL PROTECTED] / Fax: 202 362-6965 / Phone: 202 362-5266
