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That Israelis and Palestinian are even talking about a "Gaza-first" cease-fire plan is a sign of growing despair on both sides. Moves to negotiate a new truce with the Palestinian Authority (PA) suggest Israel's recognition of the failure of its military actions to end terror attacks. And for Palestinian negotiators the idea of restoring security cooperation with Israel even while its troops maintain a stranglehold over the West Bank is an admission of how few cards they hold. But divisions in both camps - and in the Bush administration, whose active involvement the plan will require - suggest that...
...Palestinian Authority cabinet meeting convened on Wednesday by Yasser Arafat endorsed a proposal floated earlier this week by Israeli defense minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer for Israel to begin pulling out of Gaza if the PA undertakes to curb terrorism. If reformed PA security structures show themselves willing and able to stop attacks on Israelis, the Gaza would be emulated in other West Bank cities. The Palestinian leadership, in giving qualified support to the proposal, proclaimed it as a basis for realizing their demand that Israel withdraw to its September 2000 positions, before the outbreak of the current intifada...
...government (Ben-Eliezer heads the Labor Party) is signaling its desire to renew some form of peace process with the Palestinian Authority - notwithstanding the reservations of the hawkish faction of the Bush administration, which in the person of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on Tuesday warned against any dealings with the PA, let alone restoring its control over territory...
...failure of force to relieve Israel's burgeoning economic and security crisis has prompted renewed efforts at dialogue with the PA - despite the fact that Yasser Arafat remains in charge - then the wider concerns of the Bush administration, particularly Iraq, may compel Washington to do the same. Despite Rumsfeld's outburst, Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice are due to meet a PA delegation on Thursday to discuss security, political reform and the humanitarian crisis in Palestinian territories. And while the delegation does not include PA leader Yasser Arafat, it consists of officials appointed...
...Gaza-first may, however, be the most palatable starting point for an Israeli government sharply divided over the terms of a political solution with the Palestinians and whether to resume relations with the PA. The dusty strip of Mediterranean coastline populated mostly by Palestinian refugees holds little sentimental value to even the most ardent Zionists, and many of Sharon's supporters vehemently opposed to a Palestinian state in the West Bank tend to acknowledge that it might be an inevitability in Gaza. Unlike the West Bank, Gaza is separated from Israel by a border fence that has, for the most...