POLITICS-MIDEAST: Albricht Warns Time Running Out

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WASHINGTON, May 12 1998 (IPS) - The notion of ‘land for peace’ long has been at the heart of Middle East peace prospects and, on the eve of talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the question remained: How much land for peacewhen?

At issue in the Albright-Netanyahu meeting Tuesday were the U.S. proposals for an Israeli troop withdrawal from an additional 13 percent of the West Bank – considerably less than the Palestinians wanted but more than Itsrael was willing to cede.

Netanyahu rejected the idea on Sunday claiming it was against Israel’s security interest, thus dashing hopes for a White House Summit Monday with U.S. and palestinian leaders to launch a decisive round of talks on the ‘permanent status’ of the territory under discussion.

The United States “remains committed to the pursuit of peace, but it is up to them (Israeli and Palestinian leaders) – not to us – whether peace is achieved,” a frustrated Albright told reporters here Tuesday. She hoped her talks with Netanyahu would make clear “if it is possible to clear the way.”

U.S. President Bill Clinton left Washington Tuesday night for a meeting of the ‘Group of Seven’ (G-7) industrial powers plus Russia in Birmingham, England.

The process of reconciling Israelis and Palestinians to co- existence, begun at Oslo in 1990, showed clear signs of unraveling and Albright decried the “crisis of partnership… wherein short- term tactical considerations have too often trumped broader understandings of common interest and cooperation.”

“We have gone from a situation where no problem was too big to solve, to a situation were every issue is argued about,” she said. The United States “has gone the extra mile – in fact the extra 20,000 miles back and forth over the across the Atlantic many times” to revive the flagging peace process.

Washington – responding to a request from Netanyahu – had “sought an agreement that would put the process back on track by focusing the parties on the importance of getting to permanent status talks” – or a final agreement on how to divide up territory in political limbo, Albright said.

At present, Palestinians have outright control over three percent of West Bank land. They exercise political authority in a further 24 percent. Israel enjoys exclusive control of the remaining 73 percent. The U.S. plan would bring to 40 percent the proportion of land under Palestinian political authority.

That proposal was “a suggestion, not an ultimatum” and had been meant to goad the two sides into permanent status talks, Albright said Tuesday. She stressed that “we did not define the areas from which Israel should redeploy.”

“There should be no doubt about the commitment of the Clinton Administration or of America to Israeli security,” said Albright, adding that “there is no expiration date” on that commitment.

From the outset of the now endangered peace process, she emphasised, “we have made the security issue the centre of our dialogue with the Palestinians. We have pressed them to understand that the fight against terror is a basic Palestinian interest.”

Albright credited “a concerted Palestinian effort” to clamp down against terrorism and threats to Israeli security, especially in recent months and despite the absence of agreement with Israel.

Netanyahu’s trip to Washington this week originally was planned for him to address the American Jewish Committee and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful pro-Israel Jewish lobby based in Washington. He also was expected to use the occasion to shore up support for his hard-line stance, which has brought relations between his country and the United States to their lowest point in years.

Through the influence of such pro-Israel groups, Netanyahu is believed to enjoy the support of four-fifths of the U.S. Congress. Following Albright’s failure last week to win his agreement to the U.S. proposals for Israeli withdrawal from part of the occupied West Bank in exchange for further security guarantees by the Palestinian Authority, a majority of the House of Representative’s 435 members wrote an open letter to Clinton backing the Israeli premier’s decision.

In response, State Department spokesman James Rubin reminded reporters that “at the end of the day…the conduct of diplomacy is in the purview of the Executive Branch. And Secretary Albright will continue to act in what she believes is the best interest of the United States and, frankly, in doing so, expects to be advancing the interest of Israel.”

After talks in London last week, Netanyahu was to have put the latest U.S. proposal to the Israeli cabinet at meetings Sunday. The proposal reportedly was not even put on the agenda, however.

Yet, it was with Israel that Albright clearly was most frustrated. “In response primarily to Israeli requests, we allowed more time and then more time and then more time for our suggestions to be studied, considered and discussed,” she said.

“The leaders of the region have reached a crossroads…Time is no longer an ally of this process; it has become an adversary.”