(13 Jul 1998) English/Nat
Israel is close to accepting an American peace plan which would return more of the West Bank to Palestinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he's prepared to continue negotiations until a deal has been reached.
But the prime minister also voiced a familiar complaint, saying Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority has not put security-related agreements into effect.
Striking an optimistic note, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel is close to an agreement on a troop withdrawal from the West Bank.
Netanyahu told a national fundraising event the gap between the two sides has almost been closed, and that he is prepared to negotiate until a deal has been reached.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"In recent weeks and most especially in recent days, we have made significant progress in our understandings with the United States. We've achieved important understandings both on Israeli redeployment and on Palestinian compliance. There are some areas that remain to be closed between the parties, between us and the Palestinians, and we are prepared to engage in this discussion immediately, without delay. We wish to do so and to continue these negotiations without interruption, continuously, until they are completed."
SUPER CAPTION: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister
Israeli media reports have said Netanyahu would ask his inner Cabinet later on Monday to approve unspecified details of the U-S pullback plan.
The United States has been trying to persuade Netanyahu to agree to a proposal to relinquish an additional 13 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinians now have full or partial control over 27 percent of the West Bank, including the main population centres.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I think we are prepared as no other government is prepared to engage in this negotiation. It will determine the most important things relative to Israel's present and future. It will determine our defences, our final borders, it will of course determine the unity of Jerusalem, because we will never, ever redivide Jerusalem, that you should know. And we stand on it completely."
SUPER CAPTION: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister
Among the sticking points are Israel's demand that the P-L-O take further action to expunge a provision of its 34-year-old charter that calls for the destruction of the
Jewish state.
Netanyahu also complained that Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority has not put security-related agreements into effect.
Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations have been frozen since March 1997, when Israel began building a new Jewish settlement in disputed east Jerusalem.
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