Israel and PA Agree on Timetable for Implementing
Israeli Withdrawal
(September 4, 1999)
At a meeting in Sharm al-Sheikh on September 4, 1999,
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agreed to a new timetable for the
implementation of the October 1998 Wye Memorandum.
This agreement obligates Israel to release 350 Palestinian prisoners, and
to begin to withdraw from an additional 7 percent of the West Bank on
September 13 and a further 11.1 percent by January 2000.
Instead of two withdrawals that were to have taken two
months, the new agreement divides the redeployments into three stages over
five months. During this time, Arafat has promised not to declare a
Palestinian state and Barak pledged not to take any unilateral steps,
language suggesting a halt to any settlement building.
Israel agreed to redeploy within days of the agreement
from 7 percent of the West
Bank, transferring it from Israeli control (Area
C) to Palestinian civilian control (Area B) and release 200 Palestinian
security prisoners. The next two withdrawals are to take place on November
15 and January 20, and another batch of approximately 150 more security
prisoners are to be released on October 8.
According to the Jerusalem
Post (9/5/99), the Palestinians agreed Israel would release pre-Oslo PLO prisoners who only had "some
blood" on their hands, meaning those who have wounded Israelis or
murdered Palestinian collaborators, and those who have only been indirectly
involved in terror acts.
The two sides also agreed, the Post said, that
negotiating teams will be established to begin intensive talks on a final
peace accord. The target date for reaching the final-status deal is
September 13, 2000.
The main criticism of the new agreement is that while
the Palestinians are obligated to carry out a number of actions including
arresting terrorist suspects, reporting on the collection of illegal
weapons and presenting a list of Palestinian police officers, the Israeli
withdrawals are not contingent upon Palestinian fulfillment of these tasks.
Sources: Israel Foreign Ministry |