Ha'aretz: Barak pushing to hand sovereignty on the Temple Mount to permanent members of the UN Security Council

By Aluf Benn Ha'aretz Diplomatic Correspondent Ha'aretz 22 September 2000

Israel is pushing an initiative to hand sovereignty on the Temple Mount to permanent members of the UN Security Council, in the latest effort to break through to a final status agreement with the Palestinians.

Among those involved are the governments of the United States and Egypt, who proposed the idea, French President Jacques Chirac, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak asked the French President to participate in this effort because of the important position of France, both as current president of the European Union and a permanent member of the Security Council. Another unspoken reason for the French role is that, unlike the United States, Paris would not be "suspected" of favoring Israel.

During a long telephone conversation with the French President several days ago, Barak explained that the Temple Mount issue was blocking the achievement of a final status agreement with the Palestinians. He also emphasized that the problem involved the unwillingness of the Palestinians and the Muslim world to recognize the special claim the Jewish people historically have on the Temple Mount.

Barak said even the Western Wall is considered holy for Islam, and Muslims are unwilling to recognize the rights of Jews and Israel to the site, and will merely concede their right to pray there.

As a result, Barak said, Israel rejects out of hand the claim of Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat for Palestinian or Muslim sovereignty over the Temple Mount. The prime minister told Chirac that in any future arrangement the status quo over the holy sites would be preserved, and the Temple Mount would remain in the hands of the Jerusalem waqf.

Israel now believes bringing the Temple Mount under the aegis of the international community could be the best way to safeguard the rights and interests of both faiths, while retaining the status quo on the ground.

The French president expressed his willingness to help and said the French government coordinates its positions on the peace process with Washington.

Chirac and Israel's acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben- Ami met on Tuesday for what appeared to be talks focused on the idea of international sovereignty over the Temple Mount. The next day Chirac spoke with Chairman Yasser Arafat and Annan on the telephone.

The idea of international sovereignty over the Temple Mount was first raised by U.S. President Bill Clinton during the latter part of the Camp David Summit in July as one of several possible options to solve the question of Jerusalem. Egypt later presented an updated version of the idea, placing control in the hands of the Security Council's five permanent members.

Responding to the reports, the Prime Minister's Office said "this is all speculation. Barak is not willing to discuss the proposal until Arafat agrees to discuss it."

In Israel and the Palestinian Authority officials are waiting to see what President Clinton's next steps in the peace process might be, and it is still not clear if the U.S. will present the sides with a bridging document.

FRIDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2000

In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.-- Zechariah 12:8-9

FEATURE STORY
ISRAEL READY TO MAKE UN "KING OF THE HILL"
An international consensus seems to be forming around the proposal of granting sovereignty on the Temple Mount to the permanent members of the UN Security Council, although both US and Israeli leaders are hesitant to claim they coined the idea due to electoral concerns in each country.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak reportedly is now quietly pushing the UN option, which is backed by a growing list of key international players that includes the US, Egypt, France and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Under the proposal, Israel would transfer rule over the Temple Mount to the five permanent members of the Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the US; Germany and Japan are seeking permanent seats as well), which would then grant the Palestinians custodianship over the Muslim shrines located there.

But Barak has less than six weeks left until the Knesset returns from recess to consider new elections, and he is concerned with the reaction of Israeli voters should the Palestinians reject the proposal, especially if it is seen as being introduced by his government.

Meantime, US President Bill Clinton's time in office is quickly dwindling, and he is cautiously weighing his next move so as not to harm the recent momentum in the presidential campaign of his understudy, Al Gore, and the senatorial candidacy of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In a crucial meeting at the White House on Tuesday, Clinton's peace team debated whether to present the document the parties are expecting any day now which would compile the "understandings" reached at the Camp David summit in July. The Americans are close to ruling out their own preference for a partial agreement postponing the issue of Jerusalem, since Barak wants to face voters with an "end of the conflict" deal and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat wants to declare a state before year's end by triumphantly raising the Palestinian flag over a "liberated" Temple Mount.

That means the US paper has little value at this late stage unless it is accompanied by a compromise solution for Jerusalem which both the Israelis and Palestinians could accept. The Clinton Administration, however, is worried that by formally presenting the two sides with such a document - in effect, an American version of what a peace treaty should look like - it would inevitably become public, compromising the negotiations and angering conservative Jewish voters in New York and other key swing states, thus causing problems for Gore and the First Lady.

In short, both Clinton and Barak are drawn to the alternative of UN sovereignty on the Temple Mount, but neither wants to be saddled with paternity. Addressing the internal uncertainty in Washington and Jerusalem over who takes the lead, a Palestinian official teased that so far, US proposals have been nothing more than "Israeli ideas on American paper."

On Tuesday, Clinton decided to delay handing over the draft US summary of positions, which had been originally promised by this weekend. Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, said on Thursday, "There's been no decision to go ahead with an American proposal." Berger acknowledged that any such decision will need to come soon. "We now have a period of three to four weeks that are critical," Berger conceded, adding that whether Clinton will be able to bridge the remaining gaps in that time is "very much an open question." Concerning the eroding support for a partial accord, Berger admitted that "both parties have expressed a preference for trying to do a comprehensive settlement."

In a lengthy telephone conference this week with French President Jacque Chirac, Barak pressed the idea of UN supervision on the Temple Mount, according to HA'ARETZ. Barak explained he was unwilling to give sovereignty to the Palestinians or the Islamic world, since they have refused so far to recognize the ancient Jewish connection to the site where Judaism's two temples once stood. Barak said the Palestinians even claim the Western Wall is considered a holy Islamic site, not a Jewish one, and thus they are ready to merely concede the right for Jews to pray there.

The Israeli prime minister told Chirac that in any future arrangement the status quo ovthe holy sites would be preserved, and the Temple Mount would remain in the hands of the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem. Chirac, who also hosted Israel's acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami for talks earlier this week, said he would assist in peddling the idea to other European leaders.

Responding to such reports, the Prime Minister's Office said "this is all speculation. Barak is not willing to discuss the proposal until Arafat agrees to discuss it." But Ben-Ami publicly stated Israel was ready to discuss it. And a senior US source confirmed "a consensus seems to be forming around the UN idea. You have seen evidence of this in the French involvement ." According to the source, although this is an Israeli suggestion, Barak will say it is Clinton's so as to be able to deny it later, if the Palestinians reject it.

Privately, Barak's inner circle considers it an idea they can live with, but fears it may not pass public muster. That Israel is willing to consider the idea is a huge policy change, especially since Israeli leaders have traditionally been opposed to a greater role for the biased UN. Thus far, the Palestinians have publicly given the idea the cold shoulder, saying that they will accept nothing less than full Palestinians sovereignty over all of east Jerusalem.

U.N. Control of Holy Site in Jerusalem Again an Option
By TRACY WILKINSON, Times Staff Writer
LA Times Sept. 23, 2000

JERUSALEM--A once-unthinkable proposal to turn over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City to United Nations authority is being resurrected in an attempt to breathe new life into peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, officials from several nations said Friday.

The proposal, which Israel is said to now favor but Palestinians so far oppose, comes as American officials struggle for ways to salvage negotiations and set the Middle East on the road to a definitive peace. Within the next few days, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are awaiting a U.S. draft of "bridging proposals" designed to bring the two sides closer.

Intense talks sponsored by President Clinton at Camp David in July broke down in large part over the issue of Jerusalem, and control of the Old City's sacred Temple Mount remains the seemingly insurmountable obstacle. The site is of paramount holy significance to both Jews and Muslims, who know it as Haram al Sharif.

A suggestion to transfer sovereignty over the site to the U.N. first emerged at Camp David but faded as the talks collapsed. Under the revived proposal, sovereignty would be placed in the hands of the 15-nation U.N. Security Council or its five permanent member states, according to officials familiar with the idea.

Senior Palestinian spokesmen warned that they intend to reject the proposal out of hand and will continue to insist on full control over Haram al Sharif and all of East Jerusalem. In a Cabinet meeting Friday night, the Palestinian leadership said there is no room for compromise on Muslim and Christian holy sites.

However, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is reported to back the idea, and he eventually may face the task of persuading Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to accept it. Aides to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak confirmed Friday that the U.N. presence was under discussion. At the same time, Barak's spokesman, Gadi Baltiansky, downplayed the proposal as one of several that emerged at Camp David and afterward but that will not take on further importance until Arafat shows a greater willingness to compromise.

The most explicit account of the proposal appeared in Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper and a frequent vehicle for government trial balloons. Details were confirmed in various degrees by Israeli, U.S. and U.N. officials.

Israeli officials, hoping to gain both domestic and Palestinian support for the idea, were keen to portray it as a U.S. initiative. An already beleaguered Barak will find it impossible to sell a U.N. role on Temple Mount to much of his constituency, and least of all to the vociferous right-wing opposition.

Proponents said the arrangement would be largely symbolic and would generally preserve the status quo--that is, Palestinians would retain custodial authority over the site through the Islamic Trust, which administers Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, while Israel would retain the overall authority it currently exercises.

No security role for the U.N. is envisioned, international officials said. That means blue-helmeted U.N. troops will not soon be patrolling the center of Jerusalem. On the other hand, fundamental questions of who would be in charge of routine security and maintenance matters--who would patrol the streets and pick up the trash--remain open.

What the U.N. umbrella would allow is for Israel to say it did not relinquish sovereignty to the Palestinians and the Palestinians to say they did not relinquish sovereignty to Israel. And because the U.N. player here would be the Security Council, or its five-member permanent board, the United States would have a preeminent role.

Israel's acting foreign minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, told Israeli radio that he had discussed the proposal with the Americans, with Egyptian envoys and with French President Jacques Chirac. Israel has had contentious relations with the U.N. for decades, and turning to the world body is seen by many analysts here as, in the words of one, an act of desperation.

"We are running out of ideas to play with," said an official from another nation. Palestinian officials also downplayed expectations concerning the forthcoming U.S. "bridging proposals." Clinton was reported to be mulling over suggestions with aides. It was not clear whether the Americans will present a draft treaty, a document of any kind or simply a less formal series of summarized position statements.

Meanwhile, in a small glimmer of hope, Israeli television reported Friday night that Barak's and Arafat's offices were trying to arrange a meeting between the two leaders within a matter of days. Clinton hopes for a peace deal before he leaves office in January. Arafat has set Nov. 15 as his latest target date for declaring an independent state, and Barak faces a showdown over his own political future when the Israeli parliament reconvenes Oct. 29.