Israeli Cabinet Debates Wye Accord

The Israeli Cabinet on Thursday began a marathon debate on the U.S.-brokered Middle East peace deal, amid signs that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fighting to shore up support in his rebellious right wing and indications of a possible new conflict with the Palestinians.

The stormy Cabinet session, which was delayed three times in recent days while Netanyahu sought and received assurances from the United States about a Palestinian plan to combat terrorism, broke up near midnight and was expected to resume this morning. A vote is likely today, Israeli officials said.

When it comes, Netanyahu is expected to win narrow endorsement of the agreement, which calls on Israel to withdraw from an additional 13% of the West Bank in exchange for specific Palestinian steps to fight terrorism. He faced bitter resistance Thursday from far-right members of his coalition, particularly religious nationalists who oppose the idea of giving up any part of the lands they call Judea and Samaria.

The 13-hour session was often angry, as ministers shouted at one another and hard-liners accused the government of “selling out” Israel under U.S. pressure to make a deal at last month’s summit in Maryland.

“It was a very difficult and emotional discussion,” said Immigration Minister Yuli Edelstein, who plans to vote against the accord. “Everyone understands that we have to continue with the peace process and that our ultimate goal is to reach peace with the Palestinians, but we have a lot of criticism of this agreement.”

For instance, according to the maps shown to ministers Thursday, as many as 18 Jewish settlements will be isolated in the midst of Palestinian-controlled area after Israeli troop redeployments, Edelstein said.

To appease the right, Netanyahu on Thursday announced that he was establishing a five-member committee that will allow ministers supportive of settlers and other groups to make minor, last-minute changes to the withdrawal maps.

At the same time, Israel’s partners to the accord, the Palestinians, have yet to see any maps of the withdrawal, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials. At the recent Wye Plantation summit, Palestinian negotiators were informed about the general areas under consideration for the troop pullback but did not receive specifics, the officials said.

Ahmad Tibi, an Israeli Arab who is a senior advisor to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, said he was astonished to hear that the committee was being established even as the agreement was debated in the Cabinet.

“We haven’t seen the first maps so we don’t know what changes may be made,” Tibi said. “But we hear it will be according to the requests of the settlers. Netanyahu is conceiving of this peace as between the government and the settlers, not between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Tibi and other Palestinians also rejected Thursday what Israel was calling a make-or-break demand that Arafat reconvene the 700-member Palestine National Council to annul clauses in the Palestinian national charter that call for Israel’s destruction.

The Wye accord states that members of the council, along with representatives of other Palestinian organizations, will be invited to a mid-December meeting in the Gaza Strip at which President Clinton will speak and the participants will “reaffirm” their support for the peace process and earlier decisions to annul the anti-Israeli clauses.

It does not specifically refer to holding a vote, and the Palestinians say there will be no formal vote as the session will not be an official meeting of the council.

But the Israeli Cabinet on Thursday said it will call on the Palestinians to convene their council for a vote or face abrogation of the hard-fought accord.