Peace at Hand?

The Jerusalem Post is among the many media outlets who have covered the Wye Plantation Conference that has led to an interim agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israeli Government. Among those attending the conference was President Clinton who served as host and mediator, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasir Arafat and Jordanian King Hussein who was in the US undergoing cancer treatment but was able to assist in brokering a deal.

It needs to be remembered that this is only an interim agreement and not the final status agreement that needs to be in place by May 1999 as set forth in the Oslo Accords. This agreement may set the tone for future negotiations and additional phased withdrawals from the West Bank although the problem remains that the final status negotiations will include a determination of what will happen with Jerusalem and the final borders of the West Bank - incredibly more complex and difficult tasks than those covered thus far.

Among the more contentious issues between the parties was a demand by the Israelis for the US to consider releasing confessed Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. Pollard, convicted for treason, is serving a life sentence for his passing US Navy secrets to the Israeli government in exchange for payments. Apparently this might have been a major issue for Netanyahu not because of the impact between the Palestinians and Israelis but between his Likud factions and the more right wing elements of the government who have been suggesting that they would leave the coalition government over a deal with the Palestinians if the Israelis were to cede any additional land to the Palestinians.

The Mid East Agreement contains all the major details worked out over the duration of the Wye Conference. You'll be able to note that this agreement essentially covers the same deal that was put forth several months ago but the major breakthrough was a security arrangement between the Israelis, Palestinians and CIA. One might wonder why the CIA should play such an integral role in the peace process or possibly assist the Palestinian Authority in counter terrorism given a long history of individuals trained by the CIA coming back to haunt the US (Osama Bin Ladin comes to mind).

However, this is an issue that was quite important and needed to be bridged in order to achieve the security requirements for the Israelis. It would allow the Palestinian Authority to have a better ability to track down and capture terrorists and would go a long way to enforcing the security requirements that Israel has requested since 1994.

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