Israel Security Cabinet OKs Land Transfer

Israel’s security Cabinet on Wednesday narrowly approved a long-overdue Israeli troop withdrawal from 6.1% of the West Bank, clearing the way for a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians in Washington next week.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak presented to the ministers a heavily revised withdrawal map that does not include the Arab village of Anata on the border with Jerusalem.

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who rejected previous proposals, insisting that he be given more populated areas near Jerusalem, accepted the new map despite the last-minute Israeli revisions, a Palestinian negotiator said.

Barak initially planned to turn Anata over to Palestinian control, but he backed down amid vehement protests from the hard-line opposition and reportedly also because of threats by some members of his coalition to bring down the government.

The map was approved 5 to 3, with one abstention. The security Cabinet is a working group of government ministers that meets to debate and decide on national security issues before the full Cabinet votes on them.

Barak’s reversal on Anata raised questions about negotiations on a final peace treaty. Four key issues need to be resolved, including the status of Jerusalem, whose eastern sector is claimed by the Palestinians as a future capital.

If Barak had trouble getting political backing for a troop withdrawal from an Arab neighborhood close to Jerusalem, it could be much more difficult to win approval for concessions in the city itself. Some Barak associates have said the dispute over Jerusalem is so complex that it might have to be left unresolved for many more years.

Despite Barak’s reversal, the Palestinian response was unexpectedly muted, apparently because some of the areas being handed over are heavily populated and relatively close to Jerusalem, though they don’t border on the city, as Anata does.

Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed-Rabbo said that if the full Israeli Cabinet approves the withdrawal map at its regular session Sunday, the withdrawal could take place Monday or Tuesday.