Israeli Cabinet Ratifies Pact but Adds Demands

After nearly two weeks of postponements, the Israeli Cabinet on Wednesday approved the latest land-for-security agreement with the Palestinians but attached a litany of tough conditions that appeared all but certain to cause new disruptions and delays.

The demands by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went well beyond the scope of the written accord signed at the White House on Oct. 23. And they were swiftly, and heatedly, rejected by the Palestinians.

“Such steps make the agreement completely meaningless,” said Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator. “Netanyahu is speaking the language of threats and conditions, and destroying any trust. He is blatantly violating the agreement.”

The Cabinet insisted that the Palestinians hold a “properly conducted vote” to repeal clauses in their national charter that call for the destruction of Israel; that after the current accord is implemented, Israel will withdraw from no more than 1% of West Bank land; and that at each stage of implementation, the ministers will decide whether to proceed.

The decision also included an explicit threat: If Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat unilaterally declares an independent state in May--as he has pledged to do if the peace process stalls--Israel will annex areas it still controls in the West Bank.

In a related decision but one that was not announced, the government also Wednesday approved the release of bids for construction of a disputed East Jerusalem housing project. An advertisement in today’s Haaretz newspaper called for contractors to submit bids for 1,025 homes on the hilltop known as Har Homa in Hebrew and Jabal Abu Ghneim in Arabic.

Groundbreaking at the site last year plunged the peace process into a crisis that was overcome only with the signing of last month’s Wye accord.

The advertisement is certain to provoke new Palestinian protests.

After the Israeli Cabinet vote, Erekat and other Palestinian leaders called for immediate American intervention to prevent the collapse of the accord, which was brokered by President Clinton during nine days of arduous negotiations. Under terms of the deal, Israel will withdraw its troops from an additional 13% of the West Bank in exchange for concrete Palestinian steps against violent Islamic extremists, and other measures.

Nevertheless, the Palestinians said they remain committed to carrying out their obligations under the accord. “We will implement the agreement to the letter,” Erekat said. “But we will not allow it to be reopened under any circumstances.”

In Washington, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said through a spokesman that she welcomed the Cabinet decision as an important step forward in the peace process. No mention was made of the Israeli conditions.

Israel has been under increasing U.S. pressure to act, in part because the Clinton administration fears that further delays could provoke a new round of extremist violence aimed at scuttling the accord. Other considerations apparently include U.S. concerns that its efforts to build support for the showdown with Iraq are being hampered by the slow pace of approval.

But when it came, the Cabinet’s lukewarm endorsement contained a series of demands that cast the agreement’s implementation in grave doubt:

* Contained in the decision, and underscored by Netanyahu at a subsequent news conference, was Israel’s threat to annex parts of the West Bank if the Palestinians carry through with a pledge to declare independence in May. The Palestinians have said they will do so if a permanent peace deal has not been reached.

“We reserve the right to apply Israeli law to the security areas, to the Jerusalem area and the areas of the settlement, and to other [areas] accepted as vital national interests of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

* The government also demanded that the Palestinians formally revoke anti-Israeli clauses in their national charter, which the Palestinians insist they have already done, in order to receive the main chunk of territory at the heart of the agreement.

The demand reopened a sensitive subject that was settled with a vague compromise during the peace negotiations. The Palestinians agreed to “invite” members of their 700-member Palestine National Council to a December meeting attended by Clinton, where they would “reaffirm” the cancellation of the offensive clauses. The agreement does not specify that a formal vote is required, but Israel insists that is what was negotiated.

* The Cabinet declared that any additional troop withdrawal from the West Bank, beyond the 13% at issue now, will cover no more than 1% of the territory, a figure the Palestinians have rejected. The Wye agreement stipulated that this issue would be tackled by a joint committee.

* Finally, the Cabinet said it will meet at each stage of the phased implementation to decide whether the government should proceed, based on Palestinian fulfillment of all obligations. This, in effect, means approval of the Wye accord could be revoked at each stage.

Under the agreement, Israel is scheduled to begin the first part of the three-stage withdrawal Monday but has said the pullback could be delayed a few days.

The Palestinian Authority approved the pact last month.

The Israeli parliament is to begin debate on the accord Monday, with a vote expected Tuesday, and ratification is believed to be all but assured; the opposition Labor Party has promised Netanyahu a temporary “safety net” to allow the agreement to get off the ground.

But Wednesday’s split, conditional Cabinet vote appeared to bode ill for the future of the accord and, some analysts said, of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition as well.

The prime minister, who has portrayed the agreement as representing a much better, much safer option for Israel than earlier peace deals, could not muster a majority within his own Cabinet to support it. Only eight ministers voted in favor of the hard-won accord, with four opposed and five abstaining.

Those in favor included the three ministers who helped negotiate the agreement at Maryland’s Wye Plantation: Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon, Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai and Industry and Trade Minister Natan Sharansky.

* JERUSALEM COUNCIL VOTE: Religious, ultra-Orthodox parties win nearly half the seats on Jerusalem’s City Council. A11