Impatient U.S. Accuses Palestinians of Posturing in Peace Talks

In its first open display of impatience with the snail’s pace of the Middle East peace talks, the Bush Administration warned Palestinian negotiators on Thursday that they are in danger of losing their chance for self-government by engaging in political posturing instead of serious bargaining.

Recapping the just-concluded fourth round of talks, a senior Administration official said that all parties to the complex negotiations are insisting on maximum positions that provide little room for compromise.

But he singled out the Palestinians for special criticism for concentrating on world public opinion, instead of trying to deal with the Israelis.

The official’s comments, which carefully avoided most criticism of Israel’s negotiating position, contrasted sharply with attacks by Secretary of State James A. Baker III on Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s policy of building Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Baker has said that Israel must end all settlement activity, if it hopes to get $10 billion in loan guarantees it is seeking to provide housing and jobs for the influx of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

The official reminded Palestinian delegates that the talks provide the best chance to ease the Israeli occupation and to end practices like detention without trial and land confiscation. The Palestinians, he said, “must remain focused on this process, which provides the opportunity for the ultimate solution . . . of alleviating the suffering they are complaining about.”

The official, who spoke to reporters on the understanding that he would not be identified, said that the competing West Bank and Gaza autonomy plans introduced in this round of the talks by Israel and the Palestinians contain few common elements. He said it is now time for both sides to try to narrow their gaping differences.

“We have urged the Palestinians to start that type of process,” the official said. “We think the Israelis are prepared to do so.”

Ever since the peace talks began last October in Madrid, Arab delegations have been urging Washington to take a more active role by suggesting ways to bridge the gap between the Arab and Israeli positions. Presumably, the Palestinians and their allies have been convinced that Washington would pressure Israel to make concessions.

But Palestinian leaders flatly rejected the latest U.S. intervention. “This is not true at all and the record is straight,” said Haider Abdel-Shafi, chief of the Palestinian delegation.

Nabil Shaath, chief political adviser to Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat, added: “We have not stopped at the level of accusations and the level of slogans.”

The peace talks, separate negotiations between Israel and each of its Arab neighbors--Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinians--ended Wednesday with no agreement on a time or place to resume. Although the American sponsors want the negotiations to reopen next month, there is growing sentiment among the Arabs to put off the talks until after Israel’s June 23 election.

In Washington, a Syrian spokesman said there is little opportunity for progress until the election campaign is over. In Jerusalem, Palestinian leaders went further, maintaining that if Shamir scores any success in the negotiations, for example by getting Palestinians to agree to Israel’s plan to allow them to take over their own health programs, Shamir’s candidacy for prime minister would get a boost.

“Why should we give Shamir a gift?” asked Daoud Kutab, a Palestinian journalist.

In effect, the Palestinians hope to weaken the rigid Shamir in favor of the somewhat more flexible Yitzhak Rabin, the Labor Party’s candidate for prime minister.

The senior U.S. official warned the Palestinians and their allies to stay clear of the Israeli election.

At the same time, the official said, the Palestinian negotiators should move quickly because their political base at home seems to be eroding.

When the delegation arrived home from the first round of talks in Madrid last year, it was greeted with olive branches and cheers. Since then, the cheers have receded and criticism has risen.

Supporters of the peace process expressed alarm at a recent chamber of commerce election in the West Bank town of Ramallah, won by candidates from rejectionist Islamic groups. PLO candidates were largely rejected. One PLO sympathizer called the vote a “disaster.” Pouring oil on the flame, PLO dissenters rallied Thursday and criticized continued participation in the talks.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government notified villagers from Bani Naim, near Hebron, that more than 900 acres were being expropriated. The action only adds to the malaise at the Palestinian grass roots.

“There are little confiscations every week and at least once a month, there is a big one,” said a Western diplomat who closely monitors Israeli land policies in the West Bank and in Gaza. “Certainly, the peace talks have done nothing to stand in the way of land seizures.”

The land taken from Bani Naim extends as far as the nearby settlement of Pene Hever. “It looks obvious that this is for the expansion of the settlement,” said the diplomat.

Kempster reported from Washington and Williams from Jerusalem.