October 20, 2000. Copyright 2000. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

PALESTINIANS CONDEMN RADICAL SEPARATION PLAN 

LONDON, October 20, Graphic News: AS Israel and the Palestinians are unlikely to resume serious peace negotiations until after the new U.S. president is inaugurated in January, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is drafting a radical fallback plan to seal off Palestinian-ruled areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip permanently.

The plan, outlined by Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh has been condemned by the Palestinians as Òracist.Ó

And whether or not it stays in the drawer depends on a host of things; whether Palestinian President Yasser Arafat declares statehood unilaterally and whether Barak forms a Ònational emergency governmentÓ with IsraelÕs hawkish opposition, for example.

Some Israelis have for years urged the government to fence off Palestinian population centres. If current clashes between Israelis and Palestinians continue, they may soon have their way.

The plan, backed by the defence and security establishment, includes erecting border fences with crossing points around Palestinian self-rule pockets, planting minefields and guarding the perimeters with tanks.

Palestinians complain that Barak is trying to undermine their emerging state. ÒItÕs not a plan of separation. ItÕs a plan of isolation of the Palestinian areas,Ó said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

IsraelÕs Sneh asserts a peace agreement remains a top priority.

ÒThe idea is that if we donÕt have an agreement with the Palestinians, we would try to shape the reality here in the closest possible way to what we would like to achieve through agreement,Ó said Sneh.

None of the 200 Jewish settlements dotting the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be dismantled, Sneh said. He did not explain how Israeli enclaves on the Palestinian side of the new frontier could remain connected to Israel without eroding the idea of a strict separation between Israel and a Palestinian entity.

Sneh failed to say whether 120,000 Palestinian workers would be able to keep jobs in Israel and whether 200,000 Palestinians living in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem would be cut off from families in the West Bank.

Parliament returns from its summer recess October 30 and is expected to force Barak to call early elections, probably in the spring. The controversial idea of separation from the Palestinians could become a central theme of his campaign.

The Palestinians want a state in all of the West Bank and Gaza, with east Jerusalem as a capital. At Camp David, Barak offered them more than 90 percent of the West Bank, virtually all of Gaza and parts of east Jerusalem.

Implimentation of the plan could  depend on whether Arafat declares independence -- one date floated is November 15, the anniversary of a similar proclamation in 1988.

Arafat has said 2000 was the year of Palestinian independence, but has not set a target date. Barak may be threatening ÒseparationÓ to warn Arafat against planning unilateral moves of his own.
/ENDS

Sources: Reuters, Associated Press, Foundation for Middle East Peace