Israeli-Palestinian Ceasefire Difficult, But Not Hopeless: Peres

The fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians is difficult on the ground, but it is not hopeless, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Thursday.

The situation is not conclusive but the ceasefire did have a good beginning, Peres said at a press conference together with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell after their talks.

Peres added that it was known that the ceasefire following nine months of violence between Israel and the Palestinians would not be "easy and automatic."

Peres' view obviously differs from that of hawkish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who exhibited sharp differences with U.S. President George W. Bush over the ceasefire during his U.S. visit.

In Sharon's view, there has never been a ceasefire on the ground and the Palestinians have continued attacks against Israelis, while Bush believed that progress is being made on the ground.

Peres urged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to do more to curb violence, including issuing a clear ceasefire order to all Palestinians security sectors on all Palestinian self-rule areas and arresting "terrorists" according to the Tenet ceasefire plan.

The ceasefire which took effect on June 13 was brokered by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency chief George Tenet. Sharon demands a total cessation of all violence and incitement from the Palestinian side before a "cooling-off period".

Peres, however, suggested that Arafat's 100-percent efforts to calm the region should be enough for moving to the next stage.

Peres and Sharon, representing the left and right camps respectively, have already differed on Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer's order to evacuate 15 illegal Jewish settler outposts in the West Bank.

At the press conference, Peres reiterated his support for Ben Eliezer's order and argued that these settler outposts could be security burden of the government.

Describing the talks as "frank and open", Powell said that both Israel and the Palestinians did accept recommendations of the Mitchell report published by an international fact-finding committee on the violence last month.

The recommendations call on both sides to break the cycle of violence, carry out confidence-building measures after a cooling- off period, and finally resume their peace talks.

Powell asserted that the four stages outlined in the recommendations should be seen "as a package that every part could not separate from each other."

But he also warned that the package may not be opened while there is still violence on the ground.

He said that the United States wants to help the two sides to move to the next stage as quickly as possible, where they will implement all confidence-building measures to restore mutual trust.

However, he warned that "practical and realistic" steps should be taken and the two sides should not move too quickly, which he claimed would "guarantee a failure" of the ceasefire.

It was expected earlier that Powell would announce the beginning of the cooling-off period during his stay here, but he obviously dropped the idea due to Israel's objection.

Powell emphasized that whatever the result of his current visit might be, he will continue his efforts and work daily with regional leaders for a peace between the two sides.

When asked about Sharon's "realistic plan" revealed by Israel media on Wednesday, which would allow the Palestinians to establish a state on some 40 percent of the West Bank and Gaza Strip lands and allow Israel to keep occupation of East Jerusalem and other lands in the West Bank, Powell said that there was no official plan and the issue should be discussed in the final-status talks between the sides.

He added that both sides could have their own positions regarding the final-status issues, and he will not prejudge the positions ahead of the actual peace talks.

Powell, who is on his second visit to the Middle East since taking office earlier this year, met with Israeli President Moshe Katsav earlier in the day. He said after the talks that he will leave the two parties to decide whether it is quiet enough to begin the cooling-off period.

He will meet with Arafat and Sharon separately to discuss ways to maintain the fragile ceasefire and implement the Mitchell report recommendations.

Powell had visited Egypt and will continue his trip to the Palestinian self-rule areas and Jordan.

More than 600 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed since the outbreak of the bloodshed.






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