RaptureRH
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Israel hopes summit will get peace process back on track
Israel's foreign minister said his country is keen to relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians, and that he hoped a summit tentatively set for next week would get the ball rolling again.
But Silvan Shalom said the Palestinians must dismantle militant groups as a first step.
"This summit is not an ordinary get-together," he told public radio. "We are doing everything possible for it to be successful and to lead to the relaunch of negotiations with a view to applying the roadmap.
"However, we are not waiving the first phase of this plan, which demands the dismantlement of Palestinian terrorist organisations, including (the radical Islamic group) Hamas," he said.
The roadmap, unveiled in 2003 by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, charted a course for an end to violence and the creation of a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel.
It has been languishing ever since amid continuing unrest and mutual recriminations.
Shalom rejected claims by the Palestinian Authority that it does not have the wherewithal to take on militant groups.
"I do not believe that these (security) services lack ammunition. Their problem is that they have still not taken the strategic decision to disarm the terrorist groups.
"If they were to take that decision and if calm were to prevail, then we are ready for an important round of confidence (boosting) measures."
Although Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has repeatedly called on armed factions to stop carrying weapons in public, powerful militias have so far flouted calls to disarm.
Shalom's comments followed a report Friday that Israel will consider allowing the Palestinian Authority to buy weapons so that police can better patrol the Gaza Strip.
The change of heart is based on US pressure and an Israeli security assessment that the Palestinian Authority needs the arms in order to clamp down on Hamas, a powerful group, Yediot Aharonot daily said.
In that vein, he said: "For us it is clear that this organisation cannot participate in the Palestinian legislative elections" scheduled for January 25.
At the same time, he claimed that "weapons, including anti-tank rockets, were passing freely across the Egyptian border into the Gaza Strip since Israel withdrew from the territory" on September 12 after a 38-year occupation.
"We expect the Egyptian forces to become more effective in stopping this smuggling," he added. Under an agreement with Israel, Cairo has dispatched a lightly armed force to patrol Egypt's shared border with Gaza.
Referring to Israel's pullout, Shalom said that if "the model is successful, and there are no more (anti-Israeli) attacks from that area, then we will be well placed to resume the political process. The contrary would mean escalation, then worse."
He reiterated previous comments by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza would not be repeated in the West Bank.
An official in Sharon's office said Saturday the summit with Abbas will take place in principal on Tuesday at the premier's Jerusalem residence. A date will not be officially confirmed until after further preparatory talks.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Saturday a second preparatory session would take place on Sunday or Monday.
link to full article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051008/wl_afp/mideast&printer=1;_ylt=AiIjMsqZ6b1AqKPF2nbl_uKROrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-
Posts: 163 | From: Houston TX | Registered: Sep 2005
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