BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
Faced with a sharpening crisis in the occupied territories, Palestinian and Israeli officials remain deadlocked over negotiations involving Israeli troop withdrawal from 80 percent of the West Bank town of Hebron and other areas. Washington's mediator Dennis Ross, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, met with Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat January 5 for four hours before coming up empty. The negotiations were held at Tel Aviv's military base in Erez, a town in the occupied Gaza Strip near the Israeli border.

The talks began some three months ago after an explosion of Palestinian resistance to the occupation forces resulted in gun battles between Palestinian security forces and Israeli soldiers September 25-27. The negotiations included releasing Palestinian prisoners and moving the Zionist troops out of rural West Bank towns, but were stalled when Netanyahu refused to set dates for the last two stages of a three-part troop withdrawal scheduled to end next September.

Israeli Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon and right- wing allies of Netanyahu have loudly proclaimed outrage at the negotiations. Netanyahu's brother-in-law, Hagai Ben- Artzi, moved into a settlement in Hebron to repudiate the withdrawal. Seven of Netanyahu's 18 cabinet ministers announced their opposition to the pullout from Hebron.

The editors of London's Financial Times warned the prime minister on January 6 not to overestimate this "obstacle," suggesting that he "crack the whip" if he wanted to "prevent an explosion in the occupied territories." The Economist called on Arafat to "proclaim Palestine independent" noting that "outside opinion has shifted" his way.

The Clinton administration, which has tacitly backed Netanyahu's policies, publicly chided Tel Aviv for reviving subsidies and tax breaks for Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The White House has also been annoyed by Netanyahu's stance on Hebron, seeing the question as crucial to stability in the occupied territories. "We need to get the Hebron agreement over and behind us," Clinton stated December 17. He invited both Arafat and Netanyahu for a meeting in the White House in January.

Under pressure from Washington, Netanyahu has offered a few sops, including dates to release Palestinian women inmates and to begin discussions on a Palestinian airport, seaport, and a transit route between the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli media reported January 5. Another concession involved the Israeli military reopening the Islamic University in Hebron December 28, which had been closed for 10 months. Earlier in December 300 students occupied the university and won the reopening of a polytechnic college.

Under a 1993 agreement made in Oslo, Norway, the Israeli occupation forces were due to leave some 80 percent of Hebron last March, making it the eighth major West Bank city from which Tel Aviv would withdraw. The remaining troops would provide "security" for an enclave of about 450 Israeli settlers who live in the center of the city, which has 120,000 Palestinian residents. Some 30,000 Palestinians in Hebron would remain living under Israeli military occupation.

Palestinian leaders reached an "interim" accord in 1995. In it the previous Israeli government of Yitzhak Rabin was to release 30 Palestinian women prisoners and establish a "safe passage" corridor between the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian officials are demanding a broader release of the 2,200 Palestinian inmates held in Israeli prisons.

Under the 1995 deal, Tel Aviv also agreed to begin moving occupying troops out of small West Bank towns and rural areas after the initial redeployment from large towns was complete. Currently, Palestinians control just 3 percent of West Bank territory and a little more than half of Gaza.

While the capitalist media has praised the former Rabin government for placing restrictions on expansion of settlements, their numbers actually rose from 100,000 in 1992 to today's 145,000 under a "freezing" settlement policy of the Labor Party regime. Rabin, who was assassinated by a rightist in 1995, led Israel's armed forces in 1967 when it seized the West Bank and other territories from neighboring countries.

Zionists advance outrageous demands
In addition to balking on previous accords, Zionist demands are also a major obstacle to reaching any agreement with the Palestinian leadership. Tel Aviv has demanded the right of its troops to "hot pursuit" of Palestinians into any areas that are to be controlled by Palestinians. The regime is also calling for wider buffer zones between Palestinian areas and Israeli settlement compounds and restrictions on weapons for Palestinian police in some areas.

Right-wing opposition to the withdrawal from Hebron has led to a number of violent assaults, including when an Israeli soldier opened fire on a crowded Palestinian market January 1, wounding six Palestinians. The gunman, Noam Friedman, said he acted to derail the agreement on an Israeli troop pullout from Hebron.

Right after the attack, Palestinian youth set up barricades of rocks and burning tires and threw stones at Israeli army vehicles zooming through the streets. Israeli soldiers charged the market place in the first minutes after the shooting and beat about a dozen Palestinians, including a seven-year-old boy. The troops rushed in reinforcements while armored personnel carriers took up positions on a hill overlooking the settler enclave in Hebron. They placed a curfew on Palestinians in the city.

Israeli officials "have been arguing with us for four months over the security of the settlers," said Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestinian security service in the West Bank. "Now it is clear who is in danger."

The soldier's attack was preceded December 28 by an armed march of Zionists in Hebron who were joined by 1,000 supporters. Earlier, on December 21, settlers attacked Palestinian schoolchildren in Hebron. Israeli troops, with their guns cocked, kicked and punched Palestinians trying to defend the children. In another incident two days later, Palestinians pelted Israeli troops with stones to defend themselves. Many of the settlers are reserve soldiers, including several who seized a West Bank hilltop January 3 and installed seven mobile homes on private land owned by Palestinians. They agreed to remove the mobile homes January 6 after meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai.

Unionists hold protest strike over cuts
Tensions are mounting inside Israel as well. The Histadrut labor federation organized a one-day general strike against cuts in social services. The cuts will cost working people $800-$900 a year, according to Histadrut leader Amir Peretz. Some 250,000 workers stayed home December 30 to protest the austerity measures of Netanyahu's first budget. On December 20 Arab and Israeli demonstrators marched against plans to build a new settlement in the Arab district of East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem District Panning Commission had approved plans for 132 homes on a plot supposedly owned by a Miami businessman.

Meanwhile, as Netanyahu conducted negotiations for "peace" with Palestinians, Israeli warplanes bombed southern Lebanon January 5 after Hezbollah guerrillas wounded three Israeli soldiers in three days of battles. Hezbollah has been fighting to drive the Israeli military out of southern Lebanon, which it has occupied since 1985.  
 
 
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