Israeli Cabinet Suspends Accord With Palestinians

The Israeli government formally froze its 2-month-old peace accord with the Palestinians on Sunday, in an attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to woo right-wing support ahead of likely elections.

His ruling coalition in pieces, Netanyahu faces a parliamentary no-confidence vote today that most politicians believe will topple his government. To avoid that embarrassment, the prime minister is expected instead to order new elections that will roil Israel’s tumultuous political scene at a delicate time in Middle East peacemaking.

Judging from the rhetoric coming from Netanyahu and his chief rival, Labor Party head Ehud Barak, the electoral campaign is already underway.

At Sunday’s Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu sought and received unanimous approval for a list of demands he wants the Palestinians to meet before Israel cedes them additional West Bank land. There was one abstention, from moderate Internal Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani, who, tellingly, supports dissolving the government and going to early elections.

The Cabinet vote was largely pro forma because the peace process reinvigorated by the U.S.-brokered accord reached in October in Wye, Md., has in fact been paralyzed for weeks following an outbreak of rioting by Palestinians.

Instead, the significance of the action had to be seen in the context of the political battle awaiting Netanyahu.

The move by the Cabinet also spoke to Israeli awareness that the United States government, embroiled in its own historic turmoil, is unlikely to play a significant role in forcing Israel or the Palestinians to comply with the Wye agreement, at least for the immediate future.

A hallmark of that accord was that it transformed American officials from mediators to arbiters, something that the Palestinians especially embraced. But now the Clinton administration, whose envoys normally would be knee deep in keeping compliance on track, is judged too distracted by its own survival to focus on the details of a peace plan.

“It is clear they [the Israeli government] didn’t expect pressure from us when they took this vote,” a Washington official said Sunday.

Netanyahu also used the Cabinet session to say that Palestinian demonstrations against the U.S.-led air assault on Iraq showed who Washington’s real friend in the region is. The violent protests underscored “the true partnership” between Israel and the United States, he said--a dig at what had been improving ties between Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and President Clinton.

Ever since he signed the Wye accord, Netanyahu has been under attack from his right-wing supporters, who oppose relinquishing what they see as God-given land to the Palestinians. Opposition is also growing on the left, where many believe that Netanyahu is backing away from what he agreed to and destroying chances for lasting peace.

The hard line taken by Netanyahu on Sunday immediately attracted renewed support from Jewish settlers who live in the West Bank. They are an influential lobby and on Sunday praised the freezing of the Wye agreement.

On Friday, Israel missed a deadline to withdraw troops from an additional 5% of the West Bank. Netanyahu said, and the Cabinet affirmed Sunday, that Israel will fulfill its obligations after the Palestinians meet various conditions.

These include halting violence and the incitement to violence, accepting Israel’s terms for releasing Palestinian prisoners, collecting illegal weapons, arresting alleged killers and renouncing any intention of declaring independence in May.

Netanyahu’s hawkish foreign minister, Ariel Sharon, on Sunday formally submitted a piece of legislation that would let Israel annex any West Bank land it still occupied if and when Arafat should declare an independent state.

The Palestinians say they are meeting most of their Wye accord commitments or are in the process of doing so. Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Netanyahu of looking for “pretexts” to renege on an accord he never wanted in the first place.

The U.S. also urged both sides to fulfill the Wye agreement “as signed, without new conditions.”

“The Palestinians have worked hard to implement many of their commitments,” U.S. State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said Sunday in urging compliance.

In the political drama that will unfold today, it is likely that the parliament, or Knesset, will be dissolved, and elections for both prime minister and the 120-member legislative body could be held as early as two months from now.

That’s the easy part. It would occur against a backdrop of intense political jockeying and deal-making, as members of more than a dozen parties and factions realign and posture. Netanyahu’s Likud Party, one of Israel’s two principal parties, is split, as is the Labor Party.

Labor’s Barak, who has hired American political strategist James Carville to polish his image, is starting to edge past Netanyahu in some polls. His campaign posters are said to be ready: “One Israel. For everyone and not for extremists.”

The mystery figure in any electoral scenario is Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, a former Israeli army chief of staff. He draws considerable support in most opinion polls and is beginning to create a buzz among Israelis looking for an ideal centrist candidate. His political positions are largely unknown, however. Labor is attempting to court him, as are leading centrist independents.

In the meantime, through any election campaign, the peace process will be on hold, Netanyahu’s aides say.