Word: baraker
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Perhaps, but that hasn't made it any easier. It took Barak 10 hours of haggling with his cabinet behind closed doors last week before they voted 10-2 to accept the plan in principle. "There is an opportunity, despite the pain," Barak pleaded. Israel wouldn't swallow all of Clinton's ideas, he assured his cabinet. "I will not sign an agreement that transfers sovereignty on the [Temple] Mount to the Palestinians," the Prime Minister insisted. His army chief, Lieut. General Shaul Mofaz, also warned the cabinet that "there are a lot of gaps in the American plan...
...Palestinian Authority later issued a murky statement that it was ready to negotiate "under international sponsorship," but in private Arafat considers Clinton's plan an American-Israeli offer only marginally better than the one he rejected at last July's Camp David summit. The Palestinian leader distrusts Barak. Arafat's letter to the White House demanding details wasn't frivolous, his aides insist. Barak has a penchant, they complain, for publicly tossing out bold proposals, then backing away from them when the negotiations begin...
Arafat is also understandably suspicious about whether Barak can deliver on any document he signs. Polls put Barak 18 points behind in the Feb. 6 contest for Prime Minister with Likud hawk Ariel Sharon, who, if he won, would be sure to block the implementation of a Barak. "Israel would be free to back out of the deal," a Palestinian official frets, "whereas Arafat would be stuck...
...turned to an aide. "He's threatening me," the Palestinian leader said, twisting his lip with dismissive scorn. Other Arab leaders Clinton phoned voiced support for his proposal. But senior Arafat advisers tell TIME that many of these same leaders have been privately urging Arafat not to negotiate with Barak on the U.S. peace plan, fearing street protests in their countries...
Clinton, however, is clinging to the hope that Barak's and Arafat's clocks are finally synchronized. Five months ago, at Camp David, Barak was ready to reach a deal but Arafat wasn't. Today, Barak has calculated that he can't win re-election unless he has a peace agreement, so he's willing to make more concessions. Believing Arafat now has to show his people some results for the heavy price they've paid during the Aqsa intifadeh, Washington hopes he sees this as his best chance for quick international recognition of the Palestinian state he craves...