Word: netanyahu
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...after his return from Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in his office with TIME Jerusalem bureau chief Lisa Beyer. As the weekend approached, Netanyahu appeared relaxed and untroubled, laughing at times in the interview. Excerpts...
Americans who were present thought this was a "psychological point of departure" for Netanyahu, who had always despised Arafat as a terrorist. A senior U.S. official took it as "a recognition that the Israelis can't weaken Arafat because it will weaken themselves." By prearrangement Clinton and King Hussein left Arafat and Netanyahu alone at the lunch table, where they talked for three hours. In such private moments the two talked not only about their disagreements but also about themselves. At one point Netanyahu told Arafat he had never lost one of his debates as a high school student...
...accords. "They put all sorts of outrageous proposals on the table," says a U.S. official. "They were not negotiating in good faith." Among the outrageous points was a call for the Palestinians to hand over for trial members of their security forces who fired at Israelis during the rioting. Netanyahu told TIME later that Arafat had insisted that the Palestinian policemen who opened fire were acting against his orders. Then they should be investigated, Netanyahu countered. Says Netanyahu: "Arafat said he would take disciplinary action against those offenders...
...principals rose from lunch in the White House, Netanyahu began talking quietly with Arafat. Then he put his arm around Arafat and drew him away from the others into a corner where they could speak privately. American negotiator Dennis Ross had proposed earlier that the talks on Hebron begin at Erez, a checkpoint between Israel and the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. But when he and Arafat rejoined the group, Netanyahu said they had agreed the negotiations should start Sunday, after the Muslim and Jewish sabbaths on Friday and Saturday. In spite of the willingness to go ahead...
...White House and the State Department are wrestling with whether Netanyahu is "all talk and no action" when he says he is committed to the search for a peaceful solution. "Even if you get a deal on Hebron," says Richard Haass, who headed Middle Eastern affairs at the National Security Council during the Bush Administration, "it's still hard to be optimistic about the course of the next months and years. It's really up to Israelis to decide what sort of lives they want to lead...