NEW YORK, May 17: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel alone would set terms for withdrawing from Lebanon and that at least one more Middle East peace treaty may be possible by the year 2000.Speaking to more than 1,000 conservative Jews in New York synagogue, Netanyahu said the Oslo peace accord specifies that Israel must decide from which land it can afford to withdraw.
It also says Israel and Israel alone should make that determination. Who should decide on Israel's security, Israel, said Netanyahu to enthusiastic applause.
Israel controls a 15-km-wide "security zone" on the Lebanese side of the border, aided by its South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia allies, to prevent guerrilla attacks against northern Israel.
Netanyahu told UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday that Israel was serious about accepting a UN resolution calling for its withdrawal from Lebanon, "under conditions of international peace and security".
Lebanon refuses to enter negotiations with Israelon a pullout, arguing the 1978 resolution whose acceptance Israel first announced on April 1, requires it to withdraw unconditionally.
Meanwhile, Victor Bosovaliok, the Russian special envoy to the Middle East, called for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to do their outmost to end the escalation of violence in the region and find peace.
Bosovaliok, who was sent by Russian President Boris Yeltsin to the region in an effort to restart the stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, met with Yassir Arafat, the president of the Palestinian Authority.
Today, Bosovaliok was scheduled to meet with Netanyahu in Israel.
Russia is very much concerned about the escalation of violence in the area, Bosovaliok told a joint news conference with Arafat. Over the past several days, groups of young Palestinian protesters have clashed with Israeli soldiers. At least nine people were said to have been killed in the fighting and more than 300 others injured.
The Palestinian protests were linked to the50th anniversary commemoration of the establishment of the state of Israel.
Bosovaliok said the violence has increased tensions and the lack of confidence between the two sides and makes the implementation of peace accords more difficult he said yesterday.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
