THE BILATERAL MIDDLE EAST PEACE TALKS
WRAP-UP FOLLOWING ROUND SEVEN
OCTOBER 21 TO NOVEMBER 19, 1992
The seventh round of direct bilateral peace negotiations between Israel
and her Arab neighbors was concluded on November 19, 1992. This round
was held in Washington D.C., and lasted about five weeks. It included a
week's recess in the first week of November to allow for consultations
with the respective governments.
PALESTINIANS:
In the negotiations with the Palestinian delegation some progress was
made concerning the structure of the talks, while discussions regarding
substance were less successful.
Israel had been working since the beginning of the negotiations to
establish small negotiating groups in its talks with the Palestinians.
These groups are needed to deal with the many details which must be
addressed in order to reach an agreement on the Interim Self Government
Arrangements (ISGA) which are the purpose of these talks. Encouragingly,
in this round, a number of small groups were established and discussion
commenced on some aspects of the ISGA. These groups dealt with the
overall concept of the ISGA, land use in the ISGA, and economic
arrangements. Other issues of concern to the parties, such as human
rights, were also discussed in the small forums.
Unfortunately, the move toward small negotiating groups was not
accompanied by a similar move toward constructive negotiations. The
Palestinian delegation insisted upon raising issues concerning the final
status of the territories which are not relevant to the interim self
government negotiations at hand. Declarative positions regarding final
status issues such as Jerusalem and Jewish settlements hampered progress
on practical issues such as agreement on self-government concepts and
powers.
JORDAN:
In this round, some progress was achieved in the negotiations between
Israel and Jordan. The two sides arrived at a mutual working agenda
which outlines the issues and goals of the discussions between them. The
parties have already begun substantial talks on the agenda items, and
have structured the talks in professional working groups in order to
facilitate the detailed negotiations.
The agenda items now being discussed in depth include water and
cooperation in the areas of environment and energy. Israel expects to
address additional items in the coming round of talks.
These items are being negotiated in the framework of small, subject
oriented working groups. The groups are comprised of non-political
experts in the field under discussion, as well as diplomats and legal
specialists. With the establishment of these working groups, the main
weight of the negotiations has moved from the larger plenary of the
entire delegation, to smaller, more qualified professional forums.
SYRIA:
Israel began this round of negotiations with Syria by presenting a
reformulated position paper, mentioning an Israeli willingness to
consider an element of withdrawal on the Golan Heights, within the
context of a peace treaty which addresses the three crucial issues of
security, peace, and borders. With this position on the table, Israel
had hoped to promote the efforts to arrive at a joint statement of
principles which would guide the negotiations in the future. The talks,
however, did not advance much beyond this point, due to the Syrian
demand that Israel commit itself to a full withdrawal from the Golan
even before describing the shape and content of the peace which it is
willing to offer.
Syria was unwilling to explain its intentions regarding the future peace
with Israel, its depth, attributes and substance. The Israeli delegation
explained that without knowing whether there would be a complete peace
(diplomatic relations, open borders, etc.), and whether that peace would
exist on it own right (independent of other peace negotiations), Israel
would be unable to elaborate futher regarding withdrawal. Such a Syrian
expectation is tantamount to expecting that Israel agree to their price
before even being allowed to see the mechandise.
In the next round of talks, Israel hopes to continue work on the
formulation of a joint statement of principles for the negotations.
Though not much progress was made in this round, more progress may be
made in the next round, if Syria will enter the talks in the spirit of
"give and take", and understand that the ball is now in their court.
LEBANON:
The negotiations with Lebanon were heavily influenced by the repeated
acts of violence carried out against Israelis by extremist terrorist
elements operating on Lebanese soil. During the talks, there were a
number of attacks by the Hizbullah which caused six Israeli fatalities
and over a dozen injuries. The Hizbullah is a fundamentalist Islamic
terrorist organization which operates freely from Syrian controlled
Lebanon with Iranian training and support, and carries out its terrorist
operations with the purpose of undermining the peace process.
In its negotiations with Lebanon, Israel stated that while it remains
dedicated to the peace-making process, such terrorist actions will not
be tolerated, and that it will do whatever is necessary to defend itself
from futher attacks. The delegation explained that, with those truly
interested in peace, Israel will pursue peace as if there were no
terrorism. However, regarding those who use terrorism to destroy peace,
Israel will pursue these terrorists as if there were no peace process.
As the security situation on the Lebanese border stabilized toward the
end of the round, Israel presented the Lebanese with a compromise
proposal dealing with the establishment of a military working group in
the framework of the negotiations. In making this proposal, Israel hopes
to provide both sides with a mechanism to avoid the kind of violence
which had plagued this round of talks. This proposal is still on the
table, and will be further discussed in the upcoming round.
CONCLUSION:
Overall, some modest progress was made in this round. However, the
extremist violence in the region, and the increasingly uncompromising
positions in the negotiating room hindered further achievements which
could have been made, and which Israel had come prepared to make.
In order to conserve the momentum of the talks, and to increase the
chances of success, Israel is more than willing to continue in the
peace-making process as soon as possible. To this end, Israel has
announced that it will attend the upcoming round which is scheduled to
open on December 7, 1992.