The JJerusalemerusalem Problem TheProblem Struggle for Permanent Status Menachem Klein translated by Haim Watzman Florida A&M University, Tallahassee Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers Florida International University, Miami Florida State University, Tallahassee University of Central Florida, Orlando University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville University of South Florida, Tampa University of West Florida, Pensacola The Jerusalem Problem The Struggle for Permanent Status Menachem Klein translated by Haim Watzman University Press of Florida Gainesville/Tallahassee/Tampa/Boca Raton Pensacola/Orlando/Miami/Jacksonville/Ft. Myers In association with the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies Jerusalem, Israel Copyright 2003 by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, recycled paper All rights reserved 08 07 06 05 04 03 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Klein, Menachem. The Jerusalem problem : the struggle for permanent status / Menachem Klein. p. cm. A revised ed. of: Shovrin Tabu : ha-maga’m le-hesder keva’ Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8130-2673-3 1. Jerusalem—International status. 2. Arab-Israeli conflict–1993–Peace. I. Klein, Menachem. Shovrim Tabu. II. Title. DS109.95.K54 2003 956.94'42054—dc21 2003050727 The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida. University Press of Florida 15 Northwest 15th Street Gainesville, FL 32611-2079 http://www.upf.com Contents List of Maps vii Preface ix Introduction 1 1. The Road to Official Talks 11 Focus on Jerusalem 11 Too Little Change on the Ground In and Around Jerusalem 13 Too Much Change on the Ground: Settlement Expansion versus Palestinian Construction 16 A Limited Clash on the Ground 21 Paving the Way through Track-Two Channels 23 The Beilin–Abu Mazen Understandings 32 Prenegotiation Talks and First Steps 40 The Stockholm Track 43 The Israeli Preparations 46 The Palestinian Preparations 56 2. The Official Talks and Their Crises 63 The Camp David Summit 63 A Stormy Debate: Borders, Sovereignty, Settlements, Security, and Refugees 66 In the Eye of the Storm: Jerusalem 71 The Public Discourse 81 In Abeyance: Post–Camp David Talks 90 High Flame: The Outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada 97 President Clinton’s Bridging Ideas: The Right Start toward the End 100 The Taba Talks: Closing the Chapter with Progress 111 3. Jerusalem, a City without a Status Quo 127 No Status Quo on the Ground 127 Negotiation Dynamics 132 Why Did It Happen? Faulty Explanations 134 Noble Goal, Wrong Course: The Dysfunctional Israeli-Palestinian Interaction 140 Problematic U.S. Interaction and Functioning 147 Internal Israeli Interaction and Leadership Problems 149 Internal Palestinian Interaction and Leadership Problems 152 Poor Negotiating Strategies 164 Afterword: Inevitability versus Intangibility 181 Appendixes A. Table of Dates 193 B. Old City Data for the Year 2000 195 C. The Clinton Proposal 199 D. The Taba Nonpaper 204 Bibliography 215 Index 221 Maps 1. Jewish and Arab populations in Jerusalem, 2000 18 2. Extrapolation of the Israeli map, January–July 2000 68 3. Palestinians’ proposal in Taba 112 4. Israelis’ proposal in Taba 113 5. Jerusalem area, from Palestinians’ proposal in Taba 117 6. Jerusalem area, from Israelis’ proposal in Taba 118 Preface Some of the material from this book has been taken from Jerusalem: The Contested City, with the kind permission of its publisher, C. Hurst of London. I am grateful to Christopher Hurst and Michael Dwyer for their permission. That material has been updated in accordance with develop- ments since the publication of that book. My colleagues at the Jerusalem Institute, Ora Ahimeir, Avraham (Rami) Friedman, Yisrael Kimchi, and Reuven Merhav read the manu- script of this book, as did Ron Pundak of the Economic Cooperation Foundation and Col. (Res.) Sheul Ariel, the head of the Peace Administra- tion in the office of the Israeli prime minister. As always, their precise readings enlightened me and greatly improved the original manuscript. Similarly, I am grateful to a number of Israeli and Palestinian experts and statesmen who shared their impressions and memories with me yet pre- ferred to stay anonymous. No less helpful were Avi Shlaim from Oxford University and Benny Morris from Ben-Gurion University. David Matz from the University of Massachusetts and Joel Migdal from the University of Washington read the manuscript carefully and helped me to improve its shape. However, I alone bear the responsibility for the book’s contents. I do not presume to have made no mistakes. On the contrary, the very fact of dealing with such a current subject means that errors lie in ambush. Therefore, I would be grateful to my readers for informing me of any factual errors, while distinguishing them from disagreements they may have with my analysis or conclusions. The translation into English has been accomplished professionally, as always, by Haim Watzman. Both the readers and I owe him gratitude for the fluency of the text. Of course, I alone bear responsibility for errors. Introduction The eyes of the world were on Jerusalem in the year 2000. The pope visited the holy city as the climax of the Holy See’s millennium celebrations. At the same time, the city—both its holy places and its political future—was at the top of the Israeli and Palestinian agendas. The situation reached a climax in July of that year, when President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Chairman Yasir Arafat met at the Camp David summit with the aim of reaching a historic final status agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. No agreement was forthcoming. Shortly after the summit ended, a sec- ond Palestinian uprising broke out, beginning at the holiest Muslim shrine in Jerusalem. That holy site gave the uprising its name: the al-Aqsa Intifada. This book outlines the major developments in the efforts of Israel, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and the United States to reach a permanent status agreement, with a focus on the discussions of the fu- ture of Jerusalem. Unlike the memoirs that have been published by Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans who have been active at various stages of the peace process, this book uses research methods to cover the process from all sides, from 1994, shortly after Israel and the PLO signed a Declaration of Principles calling for a peaceful resolution of their conflict. Based on Arabic, Hebrew, and English primary sources as well as the author’s per- sonal experience in the official and informal talks between the two sides, this book reassesses current knowledge and disproves a number of claims made by the Israeli and Palestinian actors involved in the process. During the negotiations about Jerusalem, all three parties’ long-held preconceptions about how the issue would be resolved were shattered. The talks, which reached their most intensive stage during the Camp David summit in the summer of 2000, did not end in an agreement. Quite the contrary: while they were still in progress, a new Palestinian Intifada 2 | The Jerusalem Problem broke out. In addition to recounting and analyzing the negotiations, this book also seeks to explain why the dialogue ended in an outbreak of violence rather than a settlement. This is a current history rather than a work of history in the classic mode. The latter would require the analysis of more extensive memoirs about and documents from the negotiations before, during, and after the Camp David summit than have yet been published. Moreover, neither side ever drafted a single definitive document setting out what was understood and said at Camp David. Each side has, in fact, several versions. There is no official record of the talks that has been certified by all sides. The discussions at the talks alternated between questions of principle, which the leaders were expected to decide, and questions of secondary impor- tance, which were dealt with by other participants. It should be recalled that a number of leaders from the uppermost echelons participated in the Camp David summit, and each sought to go down in history as having played a decisive and important role. The formal channels of communica- tion, the negotiating teams headed by Oded Eran of Israel and Yassir Abd Rabbu of the PLO, had ceased to exist prior to the conference, leaving communication between the parties to improvised channels. These factors prevented any agreement on a single document or protocol. The Ameri- cans tried to draft such a document after the summit ended, but for some reason the Israelis and Palestinians remembered the talks differently than did their American hosts. At the same time, there is a wealth of information that has already been published and may not be disregarded. This book analyzes existing knowledge and is based solely on generally available sources of informa- tion, which it classifies and organizes into a meaningful form. The profu- sion of political events and the rapid pace at which they have unfolded require that they be synthesized into a clear picture that will indicate the