Arafat accuses Israel of evading Wye accord implementation

However, last week Barak told Arafat that Israel wanted to combine the final pullout with the final status talks, an idea rejected by Arafat. The accord also has a timetable listing the steps each side has to take.

On Sunday, Palestinians’ chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and Barak’s envoy, attorney Gilead Sher met where the later reiterated the Israeli offer.

Asked if the Sher-Erekat meeting had produced a crisis, Arafat said, “This confirms what I said at the beginning. There is an attempt to evade the accurate and complete implementation of the agreements”.

Barak’s predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu implemented the first phase of troop withdrawal and later suspended the peace deal accusing the Palestinians of not adhering to their security commitments.

Israel has said it would implement the accord from September. It fears that a complete withdrawal of its troops from the West Bank would isolate several Jewish settlements there.

Arafat said he wanted a complete implementation of the accord. “There is no contradiction between the US, Palestinian and Egyptian positions, but there is a contradiction between the Israeli position and the rest of the positions,” he told reporters after his return from Cairo where he had a meeting with rival Palestinian factions.