Roundup: Israel, US Coordinate Stance on Arafat, Palestinian Issues

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 02, 2002

Roundup: Israel, US Coordinate Stance on Arafat, Palestinian Issues

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Following the emergence of the U.S. latest Mideast policy, Israel and its American ally have obviously been coordinating their stance on the Palestinian issues,especially on the sensitive issue of Arafat's leadership.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon revealed on Monday that he had been working with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer on a new diplomatic initiative, whichwould be coordinated with the United States.

Speaking at an internal meeting of the Likud Party, Sharon said that the initiative would start with a series of measures to ease the burden on the Palestinian people as requested in the Mideast speech made by U.S. President George W. Bush on June 24.

Additionally, Sharon announced for the first time that he supported the dismantlement of illegal Jewish settler outposts in the West Bank, and that he would prevent new outposts from being built.

Sharon's friendly gestures for Bush came just after the president's speech that has been considered as the U.S. new Mideastpolicy, which calls for a thorough Palestinian reform and a non-Arafat new leadership.

Echoing Bush's speech, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell alsosaid on Sunday that the United States had no plans to deal with Arafat either now or in the future, citing that contacts with the Palestinian leader were unlikely to be revived because "his leadership is flawed."

Powell also stressed that it would not be possible to move the peace process forward unless there was a change in the Palestinian leadership.

Undoubtedly, the Bush administration has accepted Israel's opinion that Arafat has been proved poor abilities to fight terrorism and to lead the Palestinian people to make progress towards peace with Israel.

The U.S. position, according to Sharon, has made Israel "see an opportunity of the first order to further the diplomatic process."

Consequently, Sharon said on Monday that he and his Israeli government would forwardly take diplomatic efforts towards the peace and further coordinate with the Bush administration.

It seems that for Arafat, it is difficult to continue his leadership in the Palestinians, despite he could possibly win the general Palestinian elections scheduled for next January.

Speaking at the seventh Labor Party convention on Monday night, Peres indicated for the first time that Israel must "seek or create" a new Palestinian partner for the war on terrorism and for the peace, in order to replace his fellow Nobel Peace laureate and peace partner Arafat.

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