Mideast Peace Talks, Like Border Traffic, Move at a Snail’s Pace

Clutching his 2-year-old son, Rami Hussein paced the parking lot in hopeful silence as the last bus from Jordan pulled into the Jericho station Friday afternoon.

As the last of the 40 passengers filed off and collected their luggage, Hussein’s spirits sank as low as the elevation here--850 feet below sea level.

His wife and 12-year-old daughter were not aboard.

They were among 8,000 Palestinians who became stuck in Jordan when Israel closed the Allenby Bridge between Jordan and the West Bank on New Year’s Day as part of its latest crackdown on a 15-week-old armed Palestinian uprising. And a day after Israel reopened the crossing Thursday, they were among thousands still waiting in Jordan for a bus home.

Israel this week eased severe travel restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in hopes of fostering a breakthrough in U.S.-sponsored talks on an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty before President Clinton leaves office next Saturday.

But despite the relaxation and a decrease in violence this week, diplomatic progress appears to be as snail-like as the traffic across the Palestinian Authority’s newly reopened borders.

The two sides resumed Cabinet-level negotiations Friday for the first time in three weeks but achieved little except an agreement to keep talking today. They are under intense U.S. pressure to produce and sign some kind of blueprint for peace--or at least a road map for future peace talks--in the coming week.

Both parties voiced doubts. “I have a very hard time believing that, in this short period, it is possible to bridge the gaps that have emerged,” former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres said after Friday’s meeting.

The same pessimism is heard in the bus terminal here in Jericho, a few miles from the Allenby Bridge. Many of the 2,400 Palestinians returning from Jordan in the past two days said they feared that a quick reversal of the improving climate could come any time.

“Unless there’s a peace agreement next week, Israel could keep closing the bridge every time a bomb goes off,” said Abdul Rahman abu Shamleh, 29, who became marooned in Jordan on what he thought was a day trip to deliver olive oil to cousins. “Before I cross again, I’m going to think twice.”

Israel this week also reopened Gaza’s international airport, its main highway and its border crossings with Israel and Egypt. Israel also reinstated travel privileges for several Palestinian VIPs.

But Palestinian leaders said Israel’s steps fell far short of expectations.

Gaza’s airport is still restricted to five hours of daily operations--barely enough time Friday for two departing flights and one arrival. The airport, a symbol of Palestinian sovereignty since its 1998 opening, has been shut by Israel four times since the uprising began Sept. 28.

And except for Kalkilya and Janin, an Israeli blockade of West Bank towns and villages remains in place. For Palestinians returning from Jordan, that meant a risky taxi ride from the bus station to their West Bank villages over the few dirt roads unobstructed by Israeli soldiers.

The army says it needs the blockade to keep Palestinian terrorists and weapons out of Israel and away from Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories. The restrictions will be lifted gradually, Israeli officials say, if the uprising subsides and Palestinian police start arresting dozens of suspected terrorists on an Israeli most-wanted list.

On Friday, there were only scattered confrontations. In the West Bank city of Hebron, a 23-year-old Palestinian hurled an explosive device and fired shots at Israeli troops. Soldiers shot and killed the assailant.

Some travelers coming home said they welcomed their extended Jordanian stay as a relief from the violence. At the same time, they said the bridge’s 10-day closure--one of the longest in memory here--served as a bitter reminder of Israel’s power over their lives.

“Everything we’re struggling for depends on true independence from Israel, and that depends on controlling our own borders,” Ahmed Nazih, 35, said as he loaded his suitcases into a Ramallah-bound taxi. “It’s as if we run a store but don’t have the key to open it up for business whenever we like.”

Nazih, an official of the Federation of Palestinian Chambers of Commerce, arrived on one of the last buses Friday.

Rami Hussein, meanwhile, continued to wait for his wife and daughter, who had been stuck in Jordan while seeking medical treatment for the girl.

They were supposed to come home Friday, but passengers on the last bus said many West Bank-bound travelers had been left behind in Jordan when the bridge closed for the day at 3 p.m.

At first, the 34-year-old stone quarry worker refused to believe that no more buses would come. He sat on his haunches in the parking lot and swatted flies away from his son, who was starting to cry from fatigue. Finally, he gave up and went home.