Netanyahu Warns Arafat on Statehood

Israel will annex the Jordan Valley and other Israeli-occupied areas of the West Bank if the Palestinians unilaterally declare statehood, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat on Monday.

Netanyahu’s statement, made in discussions with right-wing legislators, came a day after his Cabinet approved a proposal to cede more West Bank land to the Palestinians.

And like that decision, which set tough conditions for the hand-over and left its scope and timetable undetermined, his comments Monday heightened tensions and distrust between Netanyahu’s government and the Palestinians.

“Such threats may just expose the real truth of what the Israelis have in mind,” Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said, referring to Palestinian fears that Israel plans to retain much of the West Bank permanently.

Israel has occupied the territory since capturing it from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast War, although Palestinians now govern its major cities.

Erekat said Netanyahu did not mention his warning when he telephoned Arafat on Monday to tell him that he believed that the Israeli Cabinet’s weekend decision advanced the peace process and that they would meet to discuss it once a concrete plan was approved.

But in a meeting with legislators from the right-wing Tsomet party, Netanyahu said that, if Arafat were to declare a Palestinian state without Israeli consent, Israel “will declare an annexation of the Jordan Valley and the Judean desert,” said Pinhas Badash, a lawmaker present. He said he interpreted Netanyahu’s statement as meaning Israel would annex areas it considers vital to its security, including roads and water resources, as well as the Jordan River valley, which forms the border between Jordan and the Israeli-controlled West Bank.

Badash noted it was possible to interpret Netanyahu’s comments to mean that under such circumstances, Israel would annex any part of the West Bank still under Israeli control.

Tsomet members had met with Netanyahu to try to persuade him to support a proposal to annex the Jordan Valley immediately but were turned down, Badash said.

David Bar-Illan, a Netanyahu senior aide, said he could not confirm specifics. “But the prime minister intends to do whatever he feels is necessary and advisable if Arafat scuttles the Oslo agreement arbitrarily and unilaterally,” he said. “This is intended as a warning.”

Under interim Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements, a five-year period of autonomy for the Palestinians is scheduled to end in May 1999, the deadline for a permanent peace settlement. But talks on the final issues, including settlements, refugees and Jerusalem, have broken off since Netanyahu took office in June 1996.

All substantive peace talks between the sides have been frozen since March, when Israel started to build a housing project in East Jerusalem, the traditionally Arab side of the city. The crisis deepened last summer after Islamic militants were involved in suicide bombings in Jerusalem that killed 21 people.

Arafat said two weeks ago that the Palestinians will declare statehood at the end of the autonomous period, regardless of Israel’s views.

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Efrat Shvily of The Times’ Jerusalem Bureau contributed to this report.