3 November, 1992
TALKING POINTS
THE ISRAEL-ARAB PEACE NEGOTIATIONS - AN UPDATE
FOLLOWING THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEVENTH ROUND
OCTOBER 21-29, 1992
Introduction:
The seventh round of bilateral peace negotiations between Israel and
Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestinians was convened on Wednesday,
October 21, in Washington D.C. The first half of the round has now
concluded and the second is to begin on November 9th. On October 30th,
the parties marked one year since the Madrid peace conference was
convened and the bilateral peace talks were launched. Since then, the
peace-making process has moved forward. Israel feels, however, that it
is unfortunate that more headway has not been made.
In the first week's negotiations, progress was achieved, despite a wave
of anti-Israeli terrorism which swept the region, killing eight
Israelis. While the talks were taking place, Hizbullah terrorists
carried out a number of lethal attacks against Israeli soldiers and
civilians on the Israel-Lebanese border, and Palestinian terrorists
killed two Israelis and seriously wounded three others in a series of
incidents in the territories.
Those individuals and organizations who carry out terrorism in the midst
of the talks, do so with the singular intention of ending the
peace-making process. However, Israeli policy in this respect is clear
Israel will continue to pursue peace as if there were no terrorism,
and will continue to pursue the terrorists as if there were no peace
talks.
Jordan:
The most noteworthy progress of this week of talks took place in the
negotiations with Jordan. In this track, final agreement on a joint
agenda, acceptable to both sides, is at hand. This document is, in fact,
more important that just an agenda. It outlines the substantial
agreements reached by the negotiators, ad referendum, on the structure
of the talks, the principles governing the negotiations, and the issues
which are to be negotiated.
The agenda itself contains three major subheadings. The first outlines
the general goal of the Israeli-Jordanian negotiations, that being the
achievement of just, lasting and comprehensive peace between Israel and
the Arab states and Palestinians. The second section contains the
components of the negotiations, including the issues of borders, water,
security, refugees, and the essence of the future relations between
Israel and Jordan such as cooperation in the realm of economy,
health, transportation, communications, education, energy, and the like.
The third heading states that this endeavor will ultimately culminate in
a peace treaty.
Substantial negotiations can now commence in the second half of this
round on each agenda item, and discussion will ensue on all the subjects
which they entail.
Palestinians:
In the talks with the Palestinians, progress was made this week in the
negotiating room, in spite of the events on the ground. The talks are
being held in small groups, and on substantial issues, as Israel has
been striving to do since the talks were launched. In this week of
talks, informal negotiating groups were established to facilitate the
negotiations, and core issues regarding the concept of the interim self
government arrangements (ISGA), are now being tackled.
In one of the groups, discussions are being held on the composition of
the body which will administer the interim arrangements. Talks are
dealing with its structure, jurisdiction, authority, powers and
responsibilities in short, the heart and soul of the ISGA concept.
Other groups are dealing with specific aspects such as land issues.
Additional informal groups are expected to be formed when the parties
reconvene for the second half of the round.
It should be understood that the gaps between the sides are still wide.
However, Israel hopes that the constructive atmosphere now existing in
the negotiations will help to move the talks closer to their goal an
agreement on interim self-government arrangements.
Lebanon:
The week's negotiations with Lebanon were dominated by the events taking
place on the Israeli-Lebanese border. In light of the tragic Hizbullah
attacks, Israel had no choice but to address the issues of terrorism,
violence and security.
In its discussions with Lebanon, Israel stressed the seriousness of the
rocket attacks emanating from Lebanese territory and directed against
its northern cities. Israel reiterated its determination to do all that
is necessary in order to address the grave security situation which has
developed, and to restore calm to the area, stressing that terrorists
cannot be allowed to operate with impunity.
In the negotiations with Lebanon, Israel has long been working to
establish a mechanism to address mutual security concerns on the common
border. The recent terrorist attacks have illustrated the urgency of
this subject, and Israel's delegation redoubled its efforts to bring
Lebanon into a substantive discussion of the issue.
Syria:
This week's negotiations between Israel and Syrian focused, for the most
part, on the common effort to arrive at a joint statement of principles
which will serve to guide the two delegations in the talks ahead. Some
joint formulations have been achieved in a number of the issues.
Agreement between Israel and Syria hinges upon three key elements which
Israel views as being interrelated peace, territory, and security. In
this context, at the beginning of the round, the Israeli delegation
presented a reformulated position paper stating that an element of
withdrawal to secure and recognized borders may be a component of the
future peace between the two countries. During the first week of talks,
Prime Minister Rabin stated before the Knesset: "We are speaking of
withdrawal ON the Golan Heights, not FROM the Golan Heights."
However, Israel has also reiterated that it will not discuss the
location of borders as long as Syria does not clearly indicate two
things firstly, that it is willing to enter into a full peace treaty
with all the normalization which that entails, and secondly, that the
proposed peace treaty will stand on its own two feet, independent of
developments in negotiations with the other Arab delegations.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the first half of the seventh round of negotiations could
be described as difficult, yet productive. The joint agenda reached
between Israel and Jordan is a step forward. Israel hopes that this
accomplishment will serve as an impetus for progress in the other
negotiating tracks as well.
Although the negotiations in Washington cannot be completely detached
from the violence on the ground, Israel's delegations were nevertheless
able carry out their functions as peace-makers. Although, unfortunately,
there will probably always be violent extremists in the region, a viable
peace process is, in the long run, the best and only solution.
The second half of the seventh round of talks is scheduled to begin on
November 9th. Israel hopes to continue the talks at the point where they
were recessed, and build upon the progress made in all negotiating
tracks.