Word: jerusalem
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...JERUSALEM, CITY OF FAITHS...
...JERUSALEM: Benjamin Netanyahu is doing nothing to quiet fears that his election will mean the end of the peace process. At first, the new Israeli prime minister sounded conciliatory Tuesday when he announced that he would pursue negotiations with Syria, Lebanon and other Arab countries with no preconditions for peace. But in the next breath, Netanyahu rendered his own promise meaningless: he said any agreement with Syria would involve Israel retaining control of the Golan Heights, that his government is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state and that he will expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank...
Although the Oslo accords require him to do so, Netanyahu says he will refuse to talk to the Palestinians about the future of Jerusalem. He so vituperatively--and unfairly--accused Peres of threatening to divide Jerusalem that he has cut off any maneuvering room. He also pledges to close down Orient House, the P.L.O. headquarters in East Jerusalem, even though the Labor government gave a written assurance, as a secret adjunct to the first Oslo accord, that the office could continue functioning...
...much interested in negotiating a full treaty. If not, so what? The Syrians have kept talking so far largely to please Washington, whose financial and diplomatic aid they covet, but Assad may be just as glad if Netanyahu takes an unyielding line: then Washington will blame Jerusalem for any failures...
YOSSI KLEIN HALEVI Senior writer for the Jerusalem Report; author of Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist...