Bitter Rhetoric Sours Talks in Mideast

As U.S. special envoy Dennis B. Ross toiled Wednesday at what increasingly seemed a fruitless mission, the ugly, sour mood that has come to characterize relations between Israel and the Arab world was on stark display.

In Cairo, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, Israel’s erstwhile peace partner, reiterated that he plans to declare an independent Palestinian state next spring--with or without an agreement with Israel--and said he expects Israel to try to retake areas under his control.

In the West Bank, Fatah, Arafat’s political faction, bitterly attacked Ross for the lack of progress in peace talks. In a statement in the semiofficial Al Hayat newspaper, Fatah described Ross, who is Jewish, as a “Shylock,” a representative of the “Zionist lobby” and an ineffective mediator. Shylock, a miserly Jewish character in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice,” is considered an expression of anti-Semitism.

In the Gaza Strip, the founder of the militant Islamic movement Hamas issued indirect threats against Israeli leaders for last week’s killing of two Hamas activists by Israeli forces. Hamas also denounced a new Palestinian casino in Jericho, which the Palestinian Authority hopes will attract Israeli gamblers.

And in Jerusalem, Israel released a report that strongly criticized the official Egyptian media for a pattern of hostility toward Jews, almost 20 years after the two countries signed a landmark peace agreement. The 15-page document accused the Egyptians of allowing anti-Semitic themes and Holocaust denials to permeate articles and political cartoons.

It’s a long way from Camp David, and from the Israeli-Palestinian accords that offered the hope of peace when they were signed five years ago this week on the White House lawn. The increasingly negative atmosphere seemed to bode ill for the success of Ross’ mission, which is aimed at reviving the process.

“It’s not a real great day,” a U.S. official here said. “We don’t need any more like this.”

President Clinton dispatched Ross to the region a week ago after both sides told U.S. officials that they were inching toward a long-delayed agreement on Israeli troop withdrawal from more of the West Bank.

The United States has been trying for months to broker a deal in which Israel pulls back from an additional 13% of West Bank land in return for stronger Palestinian efforts to fight extremist violence. But the U.S. had said Ross would not return until the two sides made progress on their own.

Even before the envoy stepped off the plane Sept. 9, Israeli and Palestinian officials were blaming one another for the expected failure of his mission. The rhetoric has been stepped up since then, with Arafat accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of destroying the peace process and Netanyahu blaming Arafat for failing to stop Palestinian terrorist attacks.

Israeli officials say that the scope of the withdrawal is no longer a problem and that other issues can be resolved quickly if the Palestinians agree to a comprehensive program to fight terrorism and fulfill obligations from previous agreements.

The Palestinians, who have accepted the U.S. initiative, say that Israel is responsible for the deadlock. All Netanyahu has to do, Palestinian negotiators state repeatedly, is to say “yes” to the American plan.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman James P. Rubin this week described Ross’ task as “excruciatingly difficult.” After 18 months of deadlock brought on by Israeli settlement-building in traditionally Arab East Jerusalem and by Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel, deep distrust between the sides “has made even the smallest issues difficult to solve,” Rubin said.

Ross was more diplomatic, praising the two sides Wednesday for “a real, strong intent” to find ways to bridge the gaps. But in a visit to Jordan to brief Crown Prince Hassan on the talks, Ross acknowledged that serious differences remained and might not be overcome before he leaves for Washington at the end of the week.

The latest rhetoric was unlikely to help. In a speech to Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, Arafat asked Arab governments to support his intended announcement next year of an independent state. Already, he said, “Israel has started to prepare ways to take over our territories, and the army is training for that now.”

In response, Netanyahu on Wednesday repeated a warning to Arafat that the move could prompt Israel to declare the Oslo peace accord dead.

“It would essentially bring about the cancellation of the agreement,” he said in an interview with Israel’s Channel One television.

Netanyahu said a declaration also would lead to unilateral Israeli steps, which his aides have said could mean the annexation of occupied areas not yet turned over to the Palestinians.

Underlining the tensions, Palestinian areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip remained under an Israeli-imposed closure for a sixth day Wednesday amid fears of suicide attacks to avenge last week’s slayings of senior Hamas figures Adel and Imad Awadallah.

Israeli security forces are expected to stay on heightened alert through the Jewish New Year holiday, which begins Sunday.