Hebron and the Redeployments

For some time, the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) has been holding periodic "brainstorming sessions" attended by senior editorial and research staff from its offices in Beirut, London, Paris, and Washington as well as from its Jerusalem affiliate, the Institute for Jerusalem Studies, and occasionally one or more guests. The seminars generally last two days and address topics that have ranged from specific final status issues (Jerusalem, refugees, borders) to developments of the previous quarter. The following are excerpts from the summary of the meeting held 9-10 March 1997, just after Israel announced its first further redeployment. The meeting, chaired by Walid Khalidi, was attended by Hussein Agha, Taher Kanaan, Ahmad Khalidi, Ahmad Khalifeh, Camille Mansour, Philip Mattar, Hisham Nashabeh, Elias Sanbar, Leila Shahid, Khalil Shikaki, Mahmoud Soueid, and Salim Tamari. Linda Butler was the rapporteur. The extracts included below involve the implications of the Hebron protocol and the impact of further redeployments on the Palestinian situation. At the time of the meeting, it was assumed that the first redeployment would be implemented as announced.