Kindgo
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By Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz Correspondent and Agencies
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=188685&contrassID=1&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, right, addresses the press together with the foreign ministers of (left to right) Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday that U.S. officials would present to Israel and the Palestinians details of a security plan developed by CIA Director George Tenet "in the very near future."
That plan, approved last Friday by U.S. officials and presented this week to Arab foreign ministers and other members of the international "Quartet" on the Middle East, calls for the United States to take the lead in creating a new Palestinian security force, media reports said.
Egypt and Jordan would assist in training and equipping the force. But their foreign ministers are insisting that IDF troops must withdraw to its lines on September 28, 2000, before Egyptian and Jordanian personnel can begin that work, or before the Palestinians can be expected to hold elections.
But Boucher stressed that Israeli withdrawal could come only after improving the security situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"As security improves, we would expect Israel to withdraw to those lines," he said. "So, the immediate goal of getting going on the security aspects, getting the security reform underway, getting the Palestinians in a position to take more responsibility for their security helps facilitate that outcome."
U.S. believes Arabs FMs, 'Quartet' back call to bypass Arafat
The U.S. administration believes that despite some differences, the international Quartet has lined up behind U.S. President George W. Bush's plans for Palestinian reforms and political progress to end the deadlock in the Middle East.
American officials are now saying behind closed doors that reports of a rift between Washington and the other members of the Quartet are exaggerated, with broad agreement reached at the meetings on how to proceed.
All the participants at the Quartet meetings, which were convened by Powell and included the Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers, agreed that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat must be bypassed. One said that the institutional reforms in the PA should make Arafat irrelevant.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration Thursday promised skeptical Arab allies that it would work "as hard as possible" to bring about a Palestinian state through a political solution within three years. "Only a political solution will bring an end to this tragic situation," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters after lunch at the State Department with the visiting foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
"I reaffirmed to my colleagues President Bush's commitment... to working as hard as possible to try to achieve a final settlement within the three-year period," he added.
After lunch with Powell, the Arab ministers said they liked what they heard but gave few details. "We are more encouraged by what we heard from the secretary today that this journey is going in the right direction," said Prince Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia. "We leave here encouraged," he said, while Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said they believed the U.S. has made "a firm commitment to an endgame" that will lead to a Palestinian state.
Powell this week identified Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayad and Interior Minister Abdel Razek Yehiyeh as Arafat appointees the U.S. could do business with. "Those are two individuals that seem to be not only asserting authority and trying to work on the transformation, but seem to be acting with authority," Powell told a National Public Radio program. The two are the same Palestinian leaders Peres has met and plans to resume meeting.
The differences were over the proper way to deal with Arafat. The Americans were told that it was a mistake to publicly call for Arafat's removal, since it would only strengthen his position and make it more difficult for other Palestinian leaders to step forward.
Much of the discussion was taken up with the timing and order of the political steps, and it appears that by the end of the meeting, each participating group understood what it wanted. The Americans are convinced there is complete agreement on the need to first of all deal with the security issue, and even if work is undertaken on other issues, security has to come first.
A similar view was expressed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a message this week to the members of the Quartet, in which he said that security was "first among equals" in the issues to be resolved.
The U.S. will lead the security reforms in the PA, with the help of Jordan and Egypt, on the basis of a new plan worked out by CIA director George Tenet. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told a press conference Thursday that Egypt was ready to train the Palestinian curity forces but only after Israel pulls out of the cities. "It is impossible to do this under occupation," Maher said. The training would be done city-by-city, as Israeli troops departed, Maher told reporters before going into meetings with Bush and Powell. Also attending were the foreign ministers of Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The new Tenet plan was approved last Friday by the White House. According to The Washington Post, it is based on gradual implementation - as Israel withdraws from parts of the West Bank, Palestinian police, screened for their credibility, will enter. Egypt will aid the process in Gaza. Israel has been offering similar ideas, saying it is ready to withdraw from areas that become quiet, allowing humanitarian and economic aid to flow in, based on a Jericho- and Gaza-first principle.
An American "assessment team" of top CIA officers named by Tenet will be arriving soon to examine the situation. In the coming weeks, Washington will summon Israeli and Palestinian officials to continue the talks. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will be going in early August, after a visit to Paris.
The U.S. meanwhile has been sending Israel messages of concern about the situation of the Palestinian population, in light of reports about malnutrition among children in the territories. The administration is making two immediate demands of Israel: to allow freedom of movement for goods and people and to thaw the frozen financial assets Israel has been withholding from the PA since the outbreak of the intifada.
But Washington is also satisfied with Sharon's promises to ease the humanitarian situation in the territories, an issue that came up in a conversation he had with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier this week, a few hours before the Quartet met.
There are three stages in the Quartet plan:
* Security and institutional reforms, including economic steps (overseen by an international task force) and humanitarian steps, carried out by the UN
* Elections. The Americans said there's no point to conduct Palestinian elections if they only reconfirm Arafat as president, like in Egypt and Syria, and it would be best to hold parliamentary elections that would end with the election of a Palestinian prime minister and Arafat "kicked upstairs." But in the Quartet meeting there was a dispute about what should come first - a Palestinian constitution, or elections and a prime minister who handles preparations for a constitution. The Americans want a constitution first, to yield a new political leadership that would open talks with Israel on a permanent agreement. The Arab foreign ministers proposed elections in January, after the U.S. elections, so Bush would not have to pressure Israel before the congressional elections in November. The Arabs proposed yesterday to the president that the Palestinian Legislative Council convene to approve a constitution that would mandate parliamentary elections.
* A Palestinian state. There is broad consensus for a Palestinian state within three years. The Arab foreign ministers wanted an explanation of Bush's "temporary state" and said the Palestinians should be asked for their agreement to the idea. Powell agreed that the Palestinians should be asked if they would accept a state with temporary borders and characteristics, but the U.S. is only ready to discuss that with an alternative leadership.
Meanwhile, the administration has told Jerusalem that it does not accept the idea of a temporary agreement on 42 percent of the West Bank (a combination of Area A and B), with a promise to discuss the rest of the territory in another decade, as Sharon wants.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
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