Autonomy talks run into trouble: PLO
Autonomy talks run into trouble: PLO
CAIRO (Agencies): Efforts to launch Palestinian self-rule ran into trouble here yesterday because of Israel's footdragging over army withdrawal plans and its tough stand on Palestinian prisoners, PLO officials charged.
On the ground, the return of a group of 26 Palestinian exiles made a false start after the Israeli authorities on the West Bank refused to allow in several of their relatives.
Gen. Nasr Yussef, the future police commander in the self-rule areas, accused Israel of refusing to set a date for handing over authority to the Palestinian police force to be deployed in Jericho and Gaza.
"We are ready to take over immediately our responsibilities," but "the Israelis are not being serious," he told journalists on the third day of negotiations which started amid optimism from both sides.
"Until now they refuse to set a precise date for the start of their withdrawal," he said.
"They have proposed a calendar for completing this pullout in three weeks but haven't set a date for the start of the operation," he said.
"They also refuse to agree on a timetable for the arrival of the Palestinian police force in Gaza and Jericho."
Chief PLO negotiator Nabil Shaath complained meanwhile that Israel's refusal to free members of Palestinian groups hostile to the peace process, including the Islamic militants of HAMAS, was "creating a problem."
The Palestine Liberation Organization cannot accept "discrimination between one group and another" as it must "assume responsibility for all the Palestinians," Shaath said. But he added that the two sides would still try to settle the problem within two days.
Israel has released more than 1,000 prisoners out of some 10,000 since the autonomy accord was signed last September in Washington. But those arrested since then exceed the number released, Palestinian sources say.
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin cooled speculation of an imminent meeting with Yasser Arafat saying he wanted to be sure of sealing an accord before seeing the PLO leader again.
"It is preferable to prepare for such a meeting to make sure it is not a failure and ends in an agreement," Rabin told state radio.
"Those who think that in two or three days we can work a trick to wrap up everything are wrong or do not know the real position."
The premier said Monday it would require a "miracle" to reach an agreement with the PLO to implement autonomy by April 13, the date for the completion of Israel's withdrawal under the September autonomy deal.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported PLO chairman Yasser Arafat had arrived in Jordan yesterday to discuss accelerating moves in Middle East peace talks with King Hussein, the state news agency Petra said.
"Arafat and the king are going to discuss coordination and measures that concern the two sides before the entry of Palestinian forces (to the West Bank) and the beginning of Palestinian authority,," PLO official Yasser Abed-Rabbo said before his arrival.
Palestinian police are supposed to deploy in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho under an agreement being negotiated between Israel and the PLO in Cairo.