Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today warned that Israel will not tolerate a whitewashing of the change to the Palestinian National Covenant by the Palestinian National Council (PNC). He said that if the annulment of the Covenant is not ratified by the PNC, this will constitute a breach of the agreement and Israel will not continue to carry it out.
Netanyahu, who convened the government this morning for a special session to discuss the Wye Plantation agreement, stressed that Israel would not compromise on the issue of the Palestinian Covenant being altered by the PNC. He declared that, under the Wye agreement, the Palestinians had undertaken to arrest 30 people wanted for terror attacks against Israel. He said that, if the Palestinians again applied the revolving door method of arrest and release of suspects, he would regard this as a breach of the agreement.
Late this afternoon, Minister of Defence Yitzhak Mordechai and Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz were expected to present maps of the withdrawal before the ministers. Netanyahu has appointed a special ministerial committee to discuss possible changes in the withdrawal maps.
The assessment is that the cabinet meeting will continue until the early hours of the morning, and that it may end without a decision, with the special government session being resumed tomorrow or on Sunday, until the Wye agreement is approved.
It is believed that, despite the harsh criticism from several ministers, Netanyahu will eventually succeed in obtaining government approval.
It is reported from Washington that special envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross has postponed his planned visit to the region, and that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has made many telephone calls in order to save the Wye agreement.
Albright spoke to Netanyahu on Tuesday, and stated the US point of view, that the Palestinians had fulfilled their obligations to submit a security plan, including the arrest of the Palestinians accused by Israel of carrying out terror attacks.
However, Ross attempted to play down the situation. "It would be an amazing exaggeration to say that there’s a crisis," he said.
In response to reports from Israel, that the US was becoming closer to the Israeli position on security arrangements, Defense Department spokesman James Rubin said: "This is simply incorrect."
Meanwhile, Muhammad Dahlan, head of the security service in the Gaza Strip, today claimed that Netanyahu seemed to regret signing the Wye Plantation agreement.
Dahlan said Netanyahu was trying to score points with the Israeli public by delaying government ratification of the agreement, and at the same time accusing the Palestinians of failing to fulfill their obligations.
He called on Netanyahu to stop stalling and proceed with implementing the agreement. "Netanyahu should speak in a positive spirit, the spirit of peace and not the spirit of confrontation," he declared.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on November 5, 1998