Netanyahu Vows to Resume Talks on Mideast Peace

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a tough and emotional speech to Congress, pledged Wednesday to resume stalled Mideast peace negotiations but warned that a final settlement is impossible unless Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reins in the terrorists among his people.

“Demanding an end to terrorist attacks as a prerequisite for peace doesn’t give the terrorists veto power over the peace process,” Netanyahu insisted. “Nearly all the terrorist acts directed against us are perpetrated by known organizations whose activities can be curbed--if not altogether stopped--by our negotiating partners.”

Drawing heavy applause and many cheers, the prime minister called on Arafat’s Palestinian Authority to “live up to its obligations it has solemnly undertaken to prevent terrorist attacks against Israel.”

If Syria is serious about peace, Netanyahu went on, it “must cease its policy of enabling proxy attacks against Israeli cities and undertake to eliminate threats from Hezbollah and other Syrian-based groups.”

Netanyahu, making his first trip to the United States as prime minister, drew another enthusiastic outburst of support when he proclaimed that Israelis would never give up the city of Jerusalem, either to Arabs or to an international body.

“There have been efforts to redivide this city [Jerusalem] by those who claim that peace can come through division, that it can be secured through multiple sovereignties, multiple laws, multiple police forces,” Netanyahu said. “This is a groundless and dangerous assumption, and it impels me to declare today: There will never be such a redivision of Jerusalem. Never.

“We shall not allow a Berlin Wall to be erected inside Jerusalem. We will not drive out anyone. But neither shall we be driven out of any quarter, any neighborhood, any street of our eternal city.”

Jerusalem was a divided city until 1967, when Israeli troops seized the Arab-controlled part during the Six-Day War. It is not recognized by the United States and many other governments as the Israeli capital.

In a recent resolution, however, Congress urged the Clinton administration to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

After Netanyahu’s address, Arafat spokesman Marwan Kanafani issued a statement saying: “It’s a pity that Mr. Netanyahu begs the sympathy of the Congress by lying on the Palestinian position on Jerusalem. . . .

“President Arafat and the Palestinian Authority do not want to divide the city, do not want to build a wall. . . . They want a unified city, the capital for two peoples.”

The welcoming ovation for Netanyahu in Congress was so prolonged that the Israeli prime minister, whose governing coalition has only a small majority in the Knesset, or Israeli parliament, said to the senators and representatives assembled in the House: “If I can only get the Knesset to vote like this!”

Despite his warm reception in Congress, the Israeli press assessed his relations with President Clinton as cool and seemingly without chemistry. “This Is Not the Beginning of a Wonderful Friendship,” a headline in the newspaper Maariv said.

News analysts in Israel said Netanyahu had rejected Clinton’s request to halt settlements on Israeli-occupied territory and that Clinton had received generalities but no firm commitments from Netanyahu on scheduling a meeting with Arafat or redeploying troops from the West Bank city of Hebron. But the newspapers noted that Clinton was not likely to press Netanyahu on these issues before U.S. elections.

Times staff writer Marjorie Miller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.