- Jabla Al Rahama/Tel Rumeida
- The Jewish Cemeteries
- Dir Al Arbein/the Tomb of Ruth and Yishai
- Tel Al Jaabra/Givaat Avot Neighborhood (including the police station in its vicinity)
- The Road connecting Al Haram Al Ibrahimi/the Tomb of the Patriarchs and
Qiryat Arba
SOURCE: U.S. Department of State, http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/22680.htm.Wye River Memorandum
DOCUMENT IN CONTEXT
The Oslo peace process between Israel and the Palestinians went on life support after
the drawn-out negotiations that produced the January 1997 Hebron Protocol on
Israel’s partial withdrawal from the West Bank city of Hebron and other areas. Israeli
prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, facing pressure from his right-wing base not to
make further concessions to the Palestinians, carried out few of his commitments to
peace, and when he did, with each step he made additional demands on the Pales-
tinians. Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, also stalled on some of his commitments
because he, too, faced pressure, from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which used suicide
bombings and other attacks to demonstrate their opposition to the peace process
(Hebron Protocol, p. 259).
Citing security concerns, Israel missed deadlines in March and September 1997 for
two withdrawals from West Bank areas. By fall 1997, Netanyahu had taken the posi-
tion that Israel could give the Palestinians full or partial control of only about 40 per-
cent of the West Bank, with Israel retaining responsibility for security in most of that
territory. Negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, with U.S. mediation, fell
into a stalemate that lasted well into 1998; even personal interventions by President Bill
Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright failed to break the deadlock.
Throughout 1998 Clinton was severely hobbled domestically by charges that he had
tried to cover up his sexual relationship with a female White House intern; at year’s
end, the charges would lead to his impeachment by the House of Representatives.
In an attempt to break the impasse, Clinton summoned Netanyahu and Arafat to
a summit at a conference center, the Wye River Plantation, in Maryland. The summit,
which began on October 15, 1998, like all such negotiating sessions, quickly became
ensnarled in mutual Israeli and Palestinian demands for more concessions from the other
party. On the seventh day, the Israelis packed their bags and threatened to leave but
then continued to negotiate under intense U.S. pressure. On the eighth day—which was
ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS 267