Divide occupied land, Clinton tells Israel

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JAN. 8. With less than two weeks to go before laying down the office, the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, has told Israel in rather blunt terms that it must divide the land it holds with the Palestinians in the larger interests of peace.

In a speech to the Israel Policy Forum in New York, Mr. Clinton said by ceding land to the Palestinians, Israel would become smaller but there was ``no choice but for you to divide this land into two states for two people''. Israel, should make ``the best of it''.

Mr. Clinton has envisaged the two States sharing Jerusalem as the capital with the Palestinian state encompassing all of the Gaza and much of the West Bank with the 170,000 Jewish settlers living there to be moved out. ``There can be no peace without compromise.'' Mr. Clinton also had a few words for the Palestinians and their leader, Mr. Yasser Arafat. Asking them not to hold out ``for the impossible more'', he rejected one of their key demands that Israel take in millions of refugees which would then change the character of the Jewish state.

``My paramters focus on the establishment of a Palestinian state that will provide all Palestinians with a place they can safely and proudly call their home,'' Mr. Clinton told the Policy Forum which backs the compromise accord. The outgoing President who has been very intently looking for ways to bridge the differences between the two sides promised to use his last days to further narrow the disagreements; but he held out no predictions.

``We've got a mess on our hands... sometimes you just have to do the right thing. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it does not.'' Mr. Clinton was also clear that the incoming Republican administration was not bound by the broad framework of his proposals. ``These parametres originated with me and will go with me when I leave office.'' On the instructions of Mr. Clinton, the West Asia negotiator, Mr. Dennis Ross, heads back to the region to talk to the Israelis and Palestinians. The Bush administration has not said who will take charge of the peace process with one speculation being that the next Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, may continue with Mr. Ross for the sake of continuity.

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Section  : International
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