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Topic: Something weird is going on with the 'roadmap'
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Trafield
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posted
Last Update: 26/04/2003 14:12
U.S. official: Road map could be released next week
By Haaretz Service and Agencies
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/287004.html
The internationally-brokered "road map" to Middle East peace will be unveiled as early as next week, once the new reform-minded Palestinian prime minister and his cabinet are confirmed, a U.S. official said Saturday.
"The road map will be issued as soon as [Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas] Abu Mazen is confirmed. It could be a just matter of days," the official based in the Middle East said.
The establishment of a new Palestinian cabinet and the swearing of the prime minister are two conditions for the launch of the peace plan, the result of a collaboration by the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.
The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is widely expected to approve Abu Mazen's appointment Tuesday at a special session in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Palestinian Minister Nabil Sha'ath said he expected the road map to be released Wednesday.
"This will be an important step towards reviving the peace process," Sha'ath, the minister for planning and international cooperation, told Reuters in Gaza City.
But Israel was more circumspect. "Let's see if Abu Mazen really gets in before talking about peace moves," said a source in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Saturday welcomed the establishment of a government under Abu Mazen, saying this step would "clear the way" for the road map, which is jointly sponsored by Russia.
Speaking to Abu Mazen and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat by phone Friday, Ivanov demanded that they bring extremist Palestinian elements under control.
Bush: Abu Mazen welcome at White House, but not Arafat
U.S. President George W. Bush said Friday that he is looking forward to working with Abu Mazen and expressed the desire to invite him to the White House "one of these days."
But the president, speaking in an interview to NBC News, also indicated that Arafat would not be invited.
"The selection of Abu Mazen as the prime minister is very positive, primarily because Abu Mazen has stated publicly that he is against terror and will use whatever powers he has to fight off the terrorist activities that have really prevented peace from moving forward," Bush said.
Powell to visit region on May 1
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to depart May 1 for a tour of the Middle East. His trip will include visits to Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, Israel Radio reported citing Washington officials.
They said that Powell's visit to Israel and the PA would take place only if the Palestinian Legislative Council approves the new government of Prime Minister designate Abu Mazen. The United States will then release to Israel and the Palestinians the "road map" plan for Middle East peace, they said.
Israeli government officials will hold extensive discussions early next week to prepare for the secretary of state's visit, Channel One television reported.
In a telecast to the Arab world Thursday, Powell said that terrorism must end if peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians is to have a chance of succeeding.
"Let's be very open and candid." Powell told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation. "Unless terrorism and violence stops, then it's almost impossible to get going on any process toward peace."
U.S. President George W. Bush plans to unveil the road map, with its goal of creating a Palestinian state by 2005, following the confirmation of a new Palestinian cabinet, set to go to the Palestinian legislature for ratification early next week.
The blueprint for peace envisions a sequence of mutual steps, including a halt to Palestinian violence and an end to Jewish settlement building in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel has reservations about the plan, and a powerful lobby in the United States will urge Bush not to press Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to make concessions until the Palestinians do more to end violence.
Israel Radio reported Thursday that 83 Congress members have signed a petition drafted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) calling on the Bush administration to ease pressure for Israeli concessions ahead of a halt in Palestinian terrorism.
But the White House has said it is "a set document."
In a separate interview with Al-Arabiya, a television station based in Dubai, Powell notified Israel and the Palestinians that he did not want to debate terms of a peacemaking road map with them when he holds talks in the Middle East, probably early next month.
"I don't want to spend a great deal of time arguing about the details of the road map," Powell said. "I want to see both sides, in a spirit of cooperation, in a spirit of peace, with the earnest desire to move forward, to start performing."
Powell said he had been in touch with Israeli authorities and found "they are ready and anxious to participate in moving forward with [incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Mr. Abu Mazen."
Powell said he hoped Abu Mazen and Mohammed Dahlan, the designated security chief, "will work hard to end the violence, end the terrorism." That, Powell said, "will create conditions that will allow us to go forward."
As for Yasser Arafat, Powell said: "Mr. Arafat still occupies a position within the hearts and minds of the Palestinian people, and I can't remove that, and I wouldn't even try to."
But, at the same time, Powell said, "We do not believe that Mr. Arafat has shown the kind of leadership that is needed to take us through this crisis."
EU: U.S. does not have sole ownership of road map
The European Union insisted Thursday that the United States did not have sole ownership of a "road map" for Israeli-Palestinian peace in an apparent bid to forestall any effort by Washington to sideline its partners.
"This is not a problem to be solved by only one country, it is a problem to be solved by the cooperation of... members of the international community that have been engaged in this peace process for a long time," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
"The road map is not the property of one country, it is the property of the Quartet," he told reporters.
He was responding to a question on whether he was concerned that the Bush administration was under pressure from Congress and influential conservative advisers to relegate its Quartet partners - the EU, the United Nations and Russia - to the sidelines of the peace effort.
A majority in Congress has backed a lobbying campaign to limit the oversight role of the three, seen by many of Israel's supporters as biased in favour of the Palestinians.
A spokeswoman for European External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten also rounded, without prompting, on the notion that the road map was an American proposal.
"I would like to remind you all that although I hear and read quite frequently that this is America's road map, it is not America's road map," Emma Udwin told a news briefing.
"It is the road map of the Quartet, which is the U.S., the UN, Russia and - let me modestly put us last - the EU."
"I note with some pleasure that I have seen [U.S. Secretary of State] Colin Powell quoted as saying that after it has been handed over, it should not lead to an endless cycle of further discussion," Udwin said.
"The road map remains what the international community sees as the best option for peace in the foreseeable future."
Arafat aide: U.K. committed to road map
A top adviser to Arafat, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said Thursday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had told Arafat in a telephone call that the U.K. was fully committed to implementing the road map.
Rudeineh said that the two men discussion the situation in the region, specifically following the deal reached over the composition of Abu Mazen's cabinet.
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Trafield
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Oh yeah...my views on America's role has changed BIG TIME! ![[Big Eyes]](graemlins/darthmavis.gif)
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helpforhomeschoolers
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Member # 15
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What do you make of this?
Does anyone besides me think that we may not yet know the role the US will play in the government of the antichrist coming to power. My thoughts on where america is in this end time picture has changed dramatically over the past 10 years, as i have watched things unfold. How about the rest of ya?
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
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Trafield
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posted
I thought this was already published as I saw a copy on the "Gulf News" website. However, that may have been a old copy because Araft is urging the U.S. to publish the roadmap. Why is the U.S. so reluctant to publish this? Things that make you go hmmmm...
Arafat calls on US to publish 'road map'
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/PrinterFull&cid=1051237140027
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The Jerusalem Post Internet Staff Apr. 25, 2003
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Palestinian Authority Chairman, Yasser Arafat, on Friday called on the US to immediately publish the 'road map' Mideast peace plan.
The Spanish arm of the ABC news network reported that Arafat said the plan should be published now that the new Palestinian cabinet under Abu Mazen has been confirmed.
Succumbing to enormous pressure from the international community, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Wednesday agreed to the appointment of Muhammad Dahlan as minister of state for security affairs in a new PA cabinet, removing a major obstacle to setting up the new cabinet.
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