O N+O T H E R S I T E S Today's Mideast news on ABCNEWS.com T A B L E+T A L K Have the political movements of the '60s had any lasting effect? Sound off and reminisce in the Politics area of Table Talk D A I L Y+Q U O T E Jerry Springer: Barbara Walters for the poor R E C E N T L Y Changing partners By Carol Lloyd Arianna Huffington spurns Newt and the Republicans, finds liberal friends and cares for the poor (05/11/98) Judicial Watch subpoenas Salon reporters By Jonathan Broder Conservative legal group seeks notes and documents related to Clinton officials and the press (05/08/98) One-man rumor mill bites the dust By David Corn It took the Hubbell tapes disaster to make Dan "Scumbag" Burton part with Clinton-hating ideologue David Bossie (05/07/98) A cry against the swine By Lori Leibovich The last angry newsman: Pete Hamill flays the press (05/06/98) Investigating a conflict By Murray Waas Kenneth Starr is proposing an "independent" investigator to look into the David Hale payments probe. The question is, how independent? (05/05/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		gloves off The fight over the Middle East peace process could get ugly. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BY JONATHAN BRODER WASHINGTON -- Over the next two weeks, President Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- two men who in private don't particularly like each other -- will undergo a very public battle of wills. The battle will be intensely political, drawing in Congress, the so-called Jewish lobby and the American people, as well as pollsters, pundits and pedants. Given the stakes involved, the clash will almost certainly turn ugly. But when the smoke clears, the future of U.S. peacemaking efforts in the Middle East will be determined, and perhaps the whole tenor of U.S.-Israeli relations. At issue are U.S. efforts to avert a complete collapse of the Middle East peace process. A summit between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Yassir Arafat was supposed to have convened in Washington on Monday, but that got canceled after Netanyahu refused to accede to U.S. demands that Israel withdraw from an additional 13 percent of the occupied West Bank. Netanyahu's agreement would have paved the way for the Israelis and the Palestinians to tackle the "permanent status" issues, like borders, refugees, Jewish settlements and the future of Jerusalem. Netanyahu, whose government has already partially withdrawn from 27 percent of West Bank territory, has insisted he would go no further than an additional 9 percent withdrawal. President Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had figured the carrot of permanent status talks -- something Netanyahu has wanted for some time now -- would be enough to get him to agree to the 13 percent withdrawal. They figured wrong. Netanyahu dismissed the American proposal saying he would not bow to American "dictates." Special Middle East envoy Dennis Ross spent the weekend trying to convince Netanyahu to bend, but to no avail. Now the Clinton administration is reportedly giving Netanyahu two more weeks to make up his mind, beginning with an arm-twisting session with Albright in Washington on Wednesday. Israel's state-controlled radio is quoting government officials as saying that Netanyahu will arrive with a new counterproposal under which Israel would pull back from 9 percent of the West Bank over three months and place an additional 4 percent of the territory "in escrow," allowing the United States to determine when it would be handed over to the Palestinians. The timing of the transfer would be based on Palestinian compliance with a long list of Israeli demands, including a crackdown on Islamic militants, an end to hostile propaganda against Israel and revisions to the Palestinian covenant that eliminate the call for destruction of the Jewish state, the radio said. The Clinton administration isn't commenting on any new ideas until it hears directly from Netanyahu. Arafat has rejected the reported Israeli proposal. "There can be no compromise on a ... compromise," he told a news conference in Brussels. "We would like to see the Israelis accept the U.S. initiative." Meanwhile, Netanyahu is hanging tough. "At the end of the day, in matters of security, it is Israel that must decide, and I think this is the view shared by, frankly, the people of America and I would like to believe also the government of the United States," Netanyahu told a Jerusalem audience Monday. That theme -- that only Israel, and not Clinton, can decide what is best for its security -- is bound to be repeated when Netanyahu meets congressional leaders later this week. He is also expected to pound that message home in numerous speeches, interviews and television appearances that he has scheduled. Netanyahu's strategy to blunt the administration's pressure was evident in a New York Times op-ed column Monday by William Safire, one of the Israeli leader's champions and occasional balloon carrier in the American media. Safire blasted Hillary Rodham Clinton for speaking approvingly last week about the eventual creation of a Palestinian state -- a comment that the administration disavowed as her own personal view but that many in the Middle East, both Arabs and Israelis, interpreted as a reflection of President Clinton's private feelings. Then Safire proposed replacing Middle East envoy Ross, whom Netanyahu is said to distrust, with former Secretary of State George Shultz. "Dennis is tired and Madeleine needs help," Safire wrote. "But the mediation game can still be won if [Clinton] gets some talent off the bench." N E X T+P A G E+| Turning up the heat on Netanyahu