Arafat, Netanyahu Hammer Away on Hebron, but Deal Eludes Them

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat held a secret, predawn round of negotiations Sunday but again were unable to conclude a deal on an Israeli redeployment from the West Bank city of Hebron.

Both sides reported progress in the U.S.-brokered meeting at the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which lasted from about 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., but no decision to sign a long-delayed agreement.

“We made some progress in the meeting, but some disputes still remain,” Netanyahu told the Union of Chambers of Commerce in Tel Aviv. “I hoped that the meeting would remain a secret, because it seems important to me to also have [such] meetings that help to build confidence.”

He added that efforts to achieve peace and security will increase over the coming months and that surprises in the peace process can be expected, but he did not elaborate.

Netanyahu’s Cabinet secretary, Danny Naveh, said the government hopes a Hebron agreement can be signed before President Clinton’s inauguration Jan. 20, but he added that after so many snags, “it’s hard to predict.”

Under an interim peace agreement, Israeli troops were to have pulled out of Hebron, the last West Bank city under Israeli occupation, in March. That withdrawal was put on hold following a wave of suicide bombings in Israel last year.

The two sides have blamed each other for the latest delay. Israel says the Palestinians have hardened their position since an off-duty Israeli soldier opened fire on Hebron’s Arab market last week, wounding five Palestinians.

The Palestinians say Netanyahu is at fault because he will not agree to allow a Palestinian liaison officer at the Cave of the Patriarchs--a holy site to Jews and to Muslims, who know it as the Ibrahim mosque--or commit to three further redeployments in the West Bank by September as called for in the interim agreement.

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Several members of Netanyahu’s Cabinet have said they will vote against the Hebron deal if he yields to Arafat’s demands, raising the possibility that the prime minister will not have a majority of Cabinet votes to approve an agreement once it is initialed. Seven of 18 Cabinet members have said they will not support any Hebron redeployment.

Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath called Sunday’s meeting between Arafat and Netanyahu “good and positive” but said issues remain that the two must resolve.

U.S. officials worked through the day Sunday to lay the groundwork for another Netanyahu-Arafat negotiating session--which would be the third in recent weeks--and hoped one would take place today.

The Americans hope that the lengthy bargaining sessions will help build trust between the Likud Party leader and the Palestine Liberation Organization chief.

Some Palestinian political observers suggest that if an accord is not reached before the onset of Ramadan late this week, it is unlikely to happen until the Muslim month of fasting and prayer ends.

The Hebron agreement is controversial among Palestinians because it would leave 20% of the West Bank city in Israeli hands, including the Ibrahim mosque. About 450 Jews live amid more than 100,000 Palestinians in Hebron.

It could be politically sensitive for Arafat to complete such a deal during the holy month. Palestinians turn out to mosques in large numbers during Ramadan, which could provide Islamic opponents of the peace process with an opportunity to whip up passions against the deal. In addition, the 1994 massacre of about 30 praying Muslims in Hebron by a Jewish settler occurred during Ramadan.