Home>>World
Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 21, 2001

Israel, Palestine Assess Loss-Gain on New US Mideast Vision

After 10 months of fence-sitting and evading direct involvement in the Middle East, the Bush administration followed in the footsteps of its predecessor and committed itself to help achieve peace between Israel and its neighbors, as a central goal of its foreign policy.


PRINT IT DISCUSS IT CHINESE SEND TO FRIENDS


After 10 months of fence-sitting and evading direct involvement in the Middle East, the Bush administration followed in the footsteps of its predecessor and committed itself to help achieve peace between Israel and its neighbors, as a central goal of its foreign policy.

The Israelis and Palestinians are making their own loss-gain assessment about U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech on the Bush Administration's vision for the Middle East.

Observers here believe that Powell's speech, delivered at University of Louisville in Kentucky on Monday, will serve from now on as the U.S. workplan in the region.

The messages Powell delivered largely reflected a continuity of U.S. policy on the Mideast issue. President George W. Bush adopted the principles of his predecessor Bill Clinton's Mideast plan: aiming for an "end to the conflict and nothing less than that" as the goal of the peace process; dividing the land into two states, Israel and Palestine, and an agreement on the issue of Jerusalem, on the basis of the demands of both sides and freedom of religion; and a "just, fair and realistic" solution to the Palestinian refugee question.

The deal presented by Powell is simple: The Palestinians will end terror and incitement, while Israel halts the occupation and the settlements. First a cease-fire will be achieved, and then diplomatic negotiations will be renewed, along the lines of the Tenet and Mitchell plans.

Observers noted that Powell's speech has set out a timetable, with all the short-term demands being made of the Palestinians, who have been called on to immediately cease the violence and incitement, and to arrest the terrorists.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quick to praise the U.S. plan. The prime minister's main goal is to win time, while preserving his unity coalition and refraining from making any territorial concessions or evacuating any settlements.

The demands on Israel, first and foremost to freeze the settlements, will only go into effect in the next stage, after the shooting has stopped and the two sides complete the "cooling-off" period stipulated in the Mitchell Report.

However, considering the tense and vulnerable situation in the region, political analysts stated that nobody knows what will happen between the Palestinians and Israelis on the ground during such a "cooling-off" period.

Meanwhile, according to reports from Washington, the Bush administration had made every effort to avoid confrontation with Sharon's hawkish administration. It is reported that Powell's speech was finalized after dozens of drafts and even every word was carefully chosen in the light of pressures from Israel and the Arab world.

It is also noted that Powell has erased from the final draft his reservations regarding the "seven days of quiet," which Sharon has demanded as the first stage in the Mitchell plan, and failed to make itself clear about the sensitive issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, which were seen as the toughest obstacles in the future final status negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israeli media said that Sharon had made the correct decision when he chose to postpone his visit to the U.S. and first hear Powell's speech. Contrary to his earlier pressure from his coalition to present the U.S. a new diplomatic plan, Sharon will only have to reply to the principles outlined by Powell.

Therefore, Sharon is expected to conduct a general discussion with Bush on how to proceed with the stages that will follow once a cease-fire has been achieved.

On the other side, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has also released a statement expressing its welcome to Powell's remarks on stopping Jewish settlement and end Israeli occupations.

However, the PNA stressed that "solving the issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees are an important basis for restarting the peace process and reaching a fair and permanent solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict on all tracks."

The Palestinians further expressed disappointment that Powell's remarks failed to offer a detailed U.S. peace plan.

Palestinian officials said the most important positive point for the Palestinians was Powell's demand to bring the Israeli occupation to an end, the ever first time a senior American had used this expression.

Senior Palestinians officials saw the main problem with the speech for the Palestinians was the manner in which Powell related to the current situation, noting that Powell categorized the intifada mainly as an expression of violence and urged Arafat to make every effort to bring it to an end.

However, some Palestinians pointed out that the bottom line of Powell's speech was balanced and positive for both sides - Powell recognized the basic goals of Israel as security and recognition by Arab countries, and also accepted the basic goals of the

Palestinians having right to establish a viable state.

Anyway, Powell's much-awaited speech has attracted much attention from the both conflicting sides. Israeli and Palestinian media said that they will be more interested in what will follow his speech, and what will result from the U.S. mediations efforts.

Powell said in his speech that he will send his envoys-William Burns of the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs and retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni to the region later this week.




    Advanced

Powell: US Will Push Israelis, Palestinians to Reach Peace