Barak’s Visit to Egypt Kicks Off Push for Peace

Launching his first diplomatic mission as prime minister of Israel, Ehud Barak traveled to Egypt on Friday and promised President Hosni Mubarak that he would “turn every stone” in the search for peace in the Middle East.

Later in Jerusalem, however, Barak gave his most explicit indication yet that he will attempt to postpone elements of the Wye Plantation land-for-security accord that Israel signed with the Palestinians last year. Instead, Barak said he wants to incorporate Wye into negotiations for a final treaty--a proposal that drew fire immediately from Palestinian leaders.

The quick trip to Egypt was the initial stop on a 12-day blitz during which Barak will meet with six world leaders, including President Clinton, in a quest to resurrect long-stalled peace talks. On Sunday, Barak will call on Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, a visit now sure to be clouded by Barak’s new ideas on the Wye accord.

Barak’s foray into the world of international diplomacy, 72 hours after he took office, is his attempt to capitalize on the high expectations created by his defeat of hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Under Netanyahu, the peace process ground to a halt amid recriminations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Barak wants to recapture the trusting relationship that many Arab leaders had with his mentor, the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, even though Barak is a latecomer to the peace process.

The new prime minister also is keen on enlisting the support of Arab leaders as he attempts to renegotiate terms with the Palestinians and open talks with Israel’s most implacable foe, Syria.

Looking pleased as he stood alongside the Egyptian president in the ornate Ras el-Tin Palace in the Mediterranean seaport of Alexandria, Barak told a news conference that he was determined to end generations of conflict between Jews and Arabs.

“The real intention of our government is to move forward with the peace process, resume the trust between both sides and make clear that if peace can be achieved in the Middle East, we will achieve it,” Barak said. “I am confident that we have an opportunity [and] we have to exploit it to bring a new momentum to the peace process.”

Barak evaded questions on specific actions, such as whether he would release Palestinian prisoners or stop the spread of Jewish settlements, adding that he would have a “detailed map” of how he planned to proceed after his meetings with Clinton, Arafat and the leaders of Jordan, Turkey and Morocco.

Mubarak came to his rescue: “I have great hopes, but give the man some time.”

The Egyptian president suggested that two months was a reasonable deadline for concrete steps in implementing peace accords that Israel has signed with the Palestinians.

Since the days of Barak’s election campaign, his aides have spoken of a plan to skip elements of the Wye accord that the parties signed last fall with Clinton. Barak outlined this for the first time in a television interview Friday night, indicating that he would prefer to move directly to negotiations for a final “permanent status” agreement that would tackle the most difficult unresolved questions, such as the status of Jerusalem and independence for a Palestinian entity.

“The issue that Arafat and I will discuss is whether we can together . . . find a way to combine the implementation of the Wye agreement with a final status agreement,” Barak said.

Under the Wye Plantation accord, Israel agreed to cede 13.1% of the West Bank to Palestinian control in exchange for a wide range of security measures, including the collection of illegal weapons, reduction of Palestinian police forces and arrest of terrorist suspects. Citing Palestinian violations, Netanyahu froze the accord in December after releasing only a fraction of the land.

Even as Barak flew home to Jerusalem on Friday, Palestinian leaders were warning him against sidelining the Wye accord.

“Any attempt to put Wye in the refrigerator is an attempt to take us for a ride,” said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. “And we don’t have a neon [sign] over our heads saying ‘stupid.’ ”

The Wye agreement was an interim pact designed to move Israel and the Palestinians further along in their completion of the peace process that started with the landmark 1993 Oslo accords.

Erekat, speaking to reporters in the Palestinian-controlled city of Jericho, said Arafat will make two demands of Barak in their meeting Sunday: full execution of Wye, including the release of additional land; and an immediate halt to the construction of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Jewish settlers have erected more than two dozen outposts in the West Bank in the past year, in what the Clinton administration calls a threat to peace. This remains an especially complex issue. Palestinians believe that the settlers are encroaching on and carving up land that should go to them, but many Israelis see the settlement as part of their right to retain biblical lands.

Barak has said he will prevent additional settlements but will not interfere with those that exist. In the end, he says, it is an issue that must be resolved in the permanent-status talks.

Barak’s decision to court Arab leaders before seeing Clinton on Thursday appeared to signal his interest in more direct contact with the Palestinians and the Arab states. Under Netanyahu, relations became so bitter that the United States had to step in as a full partner. Barak apparently wants to return Washington’s role to that of facilitator.

Once back in Israel, Barak gave interviews to both state television channels. Asked about the inevitability of a Palestinian state, he quoted senior ministers in Netanyahu’s government as saying that such a state exists “de facto.”

“The remaining question is how we make it a state that is not hostile or threatening to Israel,” Barak said. “Militarily, the Palestinians are ridiculous, hardly a threat. Terror-wise, this is the more difficult problem. I want to finally end that fight.”