October 28, 2005

AT THE WHITE HOUSE SUMMIT: BUSH PROMISES THAT HE WILL WORK FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INDEPENDENT PALESTINIAN STATE. ABU MAZEN CALLS UPON ISRAEL TO TAKE PART IN A REAL PARTNERSHIP TO ACHIEVE PEACE. CHIRAC REITERATES FRANCE'S SUPPORT FOR THE LONG-STALLED, INTERNATIONALLY-BACKED ROAD MAP. ISRAEL CONSIDERS A PERMANENT BAN ON PALESTINIANS USING MAJOR ROADS IN THE OCCUPIED WEST BANK. SHARON'S OPPOSITION SLIP FURTHER DOWN THE POLLS AND PERES WISHES TO STAY IN HIS MINISTERIAL CHAIR. President George W. Bush told Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting at the White House that he will work to achieve "the world vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security." Bush said he supported Abbas' platform of peace but asked him to do more to stop attacks on Israelis. He also urged Israel to dismantle illegal outposts and stop building new settlements in the West Bank. Abbas called for an immediate start to the implementation of the peace road map widely endorsed by the international community. The talks come amid worsening relations between Israel and the Palestinians after the continuation of attacks on both sides. Three West Bank settlers were killed in an attack claimed by an offshoot of the Palestinian Fatah movement. Israel killed a Palestinian fighter the same day, froze security contacts with the Palestinians and reimposed some West Bank roadblocks it had lifted. Speaking at a joint Rose Garden news conference after talks with Abbas, Bush said the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank had created new opportunities and responsibilities for the Palestinians. "The way forward must begin by confronting the threat that armed gangs pose to a genuinely democratic Palestine," Bush said. "In the short term, the Palestinian Authority must... earn the confidence of its neighbors by rejecting and fighting terrorism." Pressed by journalists for a time line, and in recognition of the difficulties involved, Bush suggested for the first time that a Palestinian state may not be created until he is out of office. Last year, Bush set a four-year goal of achieving Palestinian statehood, He has more than three years remaining in his term. "I'd like to see two states. And if it happens before I get out of office, I'll be there to witness the ceremony. And if doesn't, we will work hard to lay that foundation so that the process becomes irreversible," Bush said. However, the US president said he was more confident today about the possibility of the state of Palestine emerging than when he first took office. The dominant view in Washington is that Israel took a significant step when it ended 38 years of military rule in Gaza, and there is now a chance to revive the road map. The Bush-Abbas talks were the first since Israel left Gaza last month. The Americans are positive about the Palestinian leadership and clearly trust Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinian leader also feels that the Palestinians' best chance is to curry favor with the US, as Israel has done over the years. The US leader said he would appoint a new envoy with a broader mandate to help the search for peace and the rebuilding of the Palestinian economy. "Achieving peace demands action by all parties," said Bush, before urging Israel not to undertake "any activity that contravenes its road map obligations" and prejudices final status talks. Abbas called on Israel "to join us in a real partnership for making peace." "The time has come to put an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The time has come for the Palestinian people to attain freedom. The time has come to move quickly toward the resumption of permanent status negotiations," said the Palestinian leader. In Paris, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he expects a quick resumption of talks that Israel suspended with the Palestinian Authority after deadly drive-by shootings at West Bank settlements. Abbas, in Paris on his way to a highly awaited trip to Washington, said he was "sorry" about the killings y by Palestinian gunmen, who also injured five Israelis. The attack near the Gush Etzion settlements was the deadliest since July, and Israel responded with dozens of new checkpoints on major West Bank roads and halting negotiations with the authority. "We are totally certain that they are going to start again very quickly, because there are many subjects we need to take up with the Israelis and we must talk," Abbas told reporters before meeting with President Jacques Chirac, who stood at his side. Abbas condemned the killings, saying, "These events harm the cease-fire and the calm that we have respected." Abbas, on his first trip to Paris since taking office in January, was meeting Chirac to discuss possibilities for Middle East peacemaking since Israel's withdrawal. "We have begun to plant democracy and the state of law, and we are fully determined to go all the way to the end of this road," the Palestinian leader said outside the presidential Elysee Palace. Turning to Chirac, Abbas said he knew that Palestinians could "count on you," praising the French leader as a "friend" of his late predecessor, Yasser Arafat. Chirac reiterated France's support for the long-stalled, internationally-backed "road map" peace plan, which envisions an independent Palestinian state existing peacefully alongside Israel. The French leader said he was encouraged by the successful withdrawal from Gaza, saying it "marks the start or gives a jolt" to the peace process. Some Palestinian officials have taken issue with a contract signed by two private French companies to develop a tramway linking two Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Members of the Palestinian delegation brought up the issue in the meeting with Chirac, and French officials were examining whether the contract was legal, the Elysee said. The two leaders also discussed EU plans to advise the Palestinian police force starting in January and projects to develop airports and ports infrastructure projects in Gaza, the presidential palace said. Dr. Nasser al-Kidwa, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nabil Abu Rudeina, the presidency Spokesperson and Laila Shahid the Palestinian General Delegate in France attended the meeting. Abbas'' visit to France comes in the framework of his 5-country tour which includes Jordan, Egypt, France, Spain and the USA. During the tour Abbas will brief these countries'' leaders on the latest developments in the OPT and discuss the ways possible to implement the Road Map. L''Elysée announced that the French President Jacques Chirac received President Abbas, saying the reception was friendly and very warm. It said, in a statement, that the meeting discussed the Palestinian internal situation and the preparations of the municipal and legislative elections, which will take place in next December and January. "President Chirac pointed out to the President Abbas that France and the European Union bring all their support for the full success of these elections," said the statement. The two leaders were very pleased about the mission of assistance in the Palestinian police which the European Union is going to launch in January, 2006. On questions linked to the building of a tramway in Jerusalem, France promised to study the raised problem. As regards the situation in Gaza, Chirac reminded of the necessity to find a very quick solution for the opening of Rafah crossing linking the Palestinian Territories to Egypt. Chirac hoped that the projects of the sea and air ports would be relaunched. For France, said the statement, Road Map, which must be updated, remains the reference document and it is necessary to give a political perspective to the process, after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Chirac also wished that contacts between Palestinian and Israeli leaders resume fast. President Mahmoud Abbas held important talks with his Egyptian Counterpart Mohammed Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. The two Leaders tackled the bilateral relations and the latest developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) in light of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip(GS) and parts of West Bank(WB), in addition to the President's forthcoming visit to the United States. Cairo was the second stop in the President's diplomatic tour that started Sunday in Jordan. President will fly to France to meet President Jacques Chirac. Then he will visit Spain and the United States. Mubarak spokesman Suleiman Awwad said the talks, which came ahead of Abbas' scheduled trip to Washington this week, paid special attention to the impact of Israel's withdrawal last month. "We are looking forward to a successful meeting between the Palestinian president and President George Bush, which we hope will open a new chance for reviving the peace process," Awwad said. On the other hand Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insisted that a Jordanian-mediated summit with the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon be a meeting of "content" and not a PR, ahead of a last meeting on Sunday between the chief Palestinian negotiator and Sharon's top adviser to lay out the ground for the summit. "In principle," the Palestinian leadership has no objections to the Abbas Sharon proposed meeting be held "any time, any venue," but "it is important to prepare for it very well, so it won't be a fluid meeting, I mean we enter and exit the meeting without understandable and clear talks," the Palestinian president said. "The Palestinian leadership, on its part, will be ready to hold it (the meeting) when it is prepared for," he told reporters. "The leadership does not want frustration or disappointment neither for the Palestinian public nor for the Israeli public," he added. The upcoming meeting with Sharon should be one "of content, and not just a public relations encounter," Abbas told reporters in Gaza before his trip abroad. "We don't want a public relations summit. We don't want a failed summit. We want a meaningful summit with results," he said. Stressing that the meeting "should deal with urgent and sensitive issues," Abbas set out the Palestinian demands from Sharon: It is important to reactivate a Palestinian Israeli committee on detainees that both men agreed to set up when they first met in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on February 8 to decide the criteria for releasing Palestinian detainees in the jails of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), Abbas said in a press conference. "This (the criteria) should be clear, so we know who will be released and when," he indicated. Abbas also highlighted another Israeli obligation under the Sharm "understandings," namely the agreed upon Israeli withdrawals from five reoccupied Palestinian regions-cities in the West Bank. "It should be clear how these withdrawals will take place, and when they will be completed," he said. Indicating a third Palestinian demand, Abbas said that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) wants to know "when the return" of the Palestinian activists who were deported by the IOF will be completed. "There should be fixed dates for the return of all of them, without exceptions," he said. Abbas indicated other Palestinian demands concerning the Palestinian anti-occupation activists who are "wanted" by the IOF and whom the IOF are still "hunting" and extra-judicially killing, the Israeli Wall of Annexation and Expansion, and the Judaization of Jerusalem. Meantime the summit meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, their first since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza Strip, was put off again yesterday after the two sides were deadlocked over Israeli troop withdrawals in the West Bank and the release of Palestinian prisoners. The failure of the two sides to cobble together a meeting, which had tentatively been set for today, further dampened the climate for peacemaking that the international community had hoped would improve after the pullout. Occasional bursts of violence have also clouded prospects. On Sunday night, Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel security border fence. Palestinian security officials said the three were unarmed. Another Palestinian official said they were laborers trying to enter Israel, and that their bags contained food and clothes. Postponement of the Abbas-Sharon summit meeting was widely expected after senior Israeli and Palestinian negotiators failed to bridge differences in three separate sets of talks. "There was not enough preparation for this summit ... to be held tomorrow," Palestinian official Nabil Abu Rudainah said. "So it has been postponed until the end of the month, or the beginning of next month." In a joint statement, the two sides said they would continue meeting in committees to try to resolve the disputes. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and Sharon aide Raanan Gissin said the handover of West Bank towns and the release of prisoners were the sticking points. The Palestinians want Israel to honor its commitment to turn over four more West Bank towns to Palestinian control, and to release some of the more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners it is holding. Israel is prepared in principle to free some prisoners, but hasn't presented the Palestinians with any specific proposals regarding the number of Palestinians it is willing to free, or whether it would release prisoners involved in attacks on Israelis, Palestinian Cabinet Minister Sufian Abu Zaydeh said before the meeting was postponed. "The issue of the prisoners is one of the most important issues in terms of Palestinian public opinion," Abu Zaydeh said. Abbas "would have a lot of difficulties meeting with Sharon without having convincing answers," he said. Gissin said Israel was willing to consider handing over some prisoners involved in deadly attacks on Israel, but would not "release, wholesale, prisoners with blood on their hands." As for the handover of West Bank towns, the Defense Ministry said Sunday that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz objected to further transfers in conjunction with the meeting. Israel agreed to the pullback as part of a February cease-fire. But the process stalled after two towns, Jericho and Tulkarm, were handed over, with Israel accusing the Palestinians of failing to take action against militants in those towns. Israel later retook Tulkarm after a bomber from the area attacked an Israeli city. The postponement of the Abbas-Sharon meeting was the second in as many weeks. An Oct. 2 meeting was cancelled after Palestinians bombarded southern Israel with rockets, and Israel retaliated with a military offensive. Erekat said the two men would meet after Abbas returns from an Oct. 20 meeting in Washington with US President George W. Bush. The scuttling of the meeting showed that Israel's Gaza pullout last month has failed to create the peace momentum the international community had hoped for. Even so, Erekat described the negotiations that ultimately failed to produce the meeting as "very positive." Both sides "expressed our commitments to the implementation of the road map," he said, referring to the US-backed peace plan that stalled more than two years ago. Gissin dismissed the notion of fast-track peacemaking, and said the withdrawal "has proved that the only way that you can move toward peace is piecemeal, step by step." The two sides have made progress on other Palestinian demands in recent days, with a compromise possibly shaping up on reopening Gaza's border with Egypt. Israel closed the Rafah terminal the main exit out of Gaza before the withdrawal. The Palestinians say reopening the border is essential for Gaza's ravaged economy. On the other hand Dennis Ross a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and a former U.S. envoy to the Middle East said Mahmoud Abbas is a different kind of Palestinian president. Unlike his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, Abbas has made it clear that he seeks to build a political culture of responsibility. He has repeatedly said that violence is counterproductive to Palestinian aspirations. Abbas declared that it is time that Palestinians built housing for the refugees and that the Palestinian cause is not served by keeping refugees in wretched conditions. Such statements provide a way to demystify the refugee issue as a calling card of Palestinian grievance and as an impediment to an eventual peace agreement. Abbas said recently that he should be judged on "reconstruction" whether he makes good on promises to build houses, schools and hospitals. These are the things a Palestinian president should be doing and on one level, at least, Abbas' approach seems to be working: His approval rating has remained consistently above 60%. But Abbas also faces immediate threats to his hold on power, especially from Hamas and other militant groups. Though he certainly must be much more decisive in confronting the challenge, it is also essential that the U.S. does more to help build his authority. The U.S. could do three things quickly to help bolster Abbas' credibility before parliamentary elections scheduled for January. First, nothing would enhance Abbas' authority more than showing that his way is working and that Palestinians are going to work. Billions of dollars have been pledged to restore the Palestinian economy, but little has been delivered. The U.S. should spearhead the effort in the next 90 days to turn those pledges into a new reality of jobs, especially in the labor-intensive areas of housing and infrastructure construction. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have both pledged money for Palestinian housing. Second, the Palestinian economy cannot be viable without access into and out of Gaza for people and goods but at the same time, Israelis have a right to know that such access won't be used to smuggle in terrorists or weapons. The nut to crack is how to ensure that a third party at crossing points (whether made up of Egyptians, Americans, Europeans or others) has the ability not just to identify the smuggling of guns or terrorists but to confiscate such materials and arrest such individuals. Third, the U.S. needs to bridge the difference in expectations between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on what is next. Abbas wants to know that there is an ongoing peace process that will ensure that "Gaza first" the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza that took place over the summer is not "Gaza only." But Sharon, having confronted his party and having put his country through a painful decision, understandably wants to pause until he sees that the wrenching steps that Israel took will be matched by Palestinian steps on security. To bridge this difference, the Bush administration needs to transform the "road map" to peace that was put together by the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations from a list of slogans into an action plan. Currently, there is not one obligation laid out in the road map that is interpreted the same way by the two sides, and the U.S. should take the lead in forging a common understanding by Israel and the Palestinians of their responsibilities. Abbas has other things he needs to do as well. He needs to follow through with the security reforms he has said he supports building more professional, reliable security forces to combat chaos and lawlessness in Gaza and the West Bank (which would also give him added confidence in dealing with Hamas). And he needs to insist that any party participating in the upcoming elections including Hamas must take genuine, active steps toward disarmament. Abbas has shown that he is committed to the rule of law, non-violence and coexistence, but he needs help to build his authority and prevail over forces that reject any possibility of peace and reconciliation. Bush must provide that help. Meanwhile Israel is considering a permanent ban on Palestinians using major roads in the occupied West Bank, security sources said, drawing Palestinian condemnation of the idea as a form of apartheid. Israel barred private Palestinian vehicles from several West Bank highways, expanding a network of settler-only routes, a day after Palestinian militants killed three young Jewish settlers in a drive-by shooting. The army had billed the new restrictions as temporary to protect Israelis from further attack in the territory, which many analysts believe will become the focus of renewed violence following Israel's pullout from Gaza last month. But a plan is now under consideration for permanently designating some roads for separate use by Israelis and Palestinians. "The army is discussing implementation of such a plan," a senior security source said. Israel's Maariv daily said it was part of a larger blueprint to eventually separate the Israeli and Palestinian populations, but the security officials cast doubt on such a motive. Military commanders were due to meet to discuss road-use restrictions in the West Bank, Israel Radio reported. Palestinians see the measures, which force them onto poorly maintained back roads, as part of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's strategy of tightening Israel's grip on West Bank settlement blocs after pulling all 8,500 settlers out of the Gaza Strip. In White House talks, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged pressure for a halt to Israeli settlement construction. About 245,000 Jews live in the West Bank, home to 2.4 million Palestinians. Palestinians want Gaza and the West Bank for a future state. "If they go ahead (and make the road restrictions permanent) it is the official introduction of an apartheid system," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said. "This scheme ... would destroy any effort to revive a meaningful peace process." He said creation of separate roads also bolsters Israel's barrier under construction in the West Bank. Israel says it keeps out suicide bombers. Palestinians call it a land grab. The latest restrictions on Palestinians mark reinstatement of measures introduced during a 5-year-old uprising but which had been rolled back since a ceasefire took effect in February. The army said it would continue letting Palestinian buses run. Demanding a Palestinian Authority crackdown on militants, Israel on Monday suspended security contacts with the Palestinians and sealed off biblical Bethlehem, from where Sunday's attackers were thought to have come. On the other hand it seems that Ariel Sharon is intent on staying in power until the end of his term. With Netanyahu slipping further down in the polls and Sharon's general approval rating hitting new highs, Sharon has been busy holding meetings with the aim of expanding his coalition. First came Shas with talks of budget changes to reinstate the National Insurance payments for children. Then came Peres, who it seems would like to stay in his Ministerial chair for as long as Sharon will have him. At the end of the week it was Shinui's turn. In a meeting between Tommy Lapid and Sharon that was intended to be Shinui's notification to Sharon that since the disengagement has been completed Shinui is returning to its position as head of the opposition, but in a surprise move, Sharon asked Lapid to consider the possibility of returning to the government. Shinui immediately issued conditions that included the passing of a law for civil marriages, public transportation on Shabbat, forcing Haredi boys to do their military service, etc. There is, of course, no way that Sharon can have Shas and Shinui in the same government. So far neither party has said that they are joining, but it is clear that negotiations have begun. Sharon is no rush as long as the Labour party remains in the government. With Peres clearly out front in the lead for the Labour party leadership, it seems that even the four conditions that Peres has submitted to Sharon will not lead the Labour party to quickly exit the government. Peres demanded that the issue of passages between Gaza and the rest of the world be resolved, that the government re-launch a political process based on the Road Map, that the government support funding for building the Negev and the Galilee and that the new budget reflect a policy to combat poverty. Conveniently, all of Peres' demands are on the agenda of Sharon. It seems logical that Peres and the Labour party will have to leave the government at sometime before the real election season begins because staying the government up to the elections give rise to serious questions on what kind of alternative the Labour party presents to the electorate. One unnamed senior Labour party person has already suggested that Peres would prefer to have the Labour party become a sub-faction within the Likud just as long as he can keep his seat! Sharon is also busy holding meetings with some of the Likud opposition to the disengagement. Now that the disengagement has ended, Sharon believes that he can entice some of these Likud MP's to rejoin his alliance in exchange for jobs and high ranking in the party. It is likely that some of them will be swayed away from their ideological opposition claiming that they are rejoining forces with Sharon to prevent further withdrawals in the future.