Haaretz
Kislev 8, 5765
U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to arrive tonight for a "farewell
visit" to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
During meetings
tomorrow with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan
Shalom, Powell is expected to ask Israel not to disrupt the January 9
elections in the PA.
Sources say Powell will ask Israel to remove
roadblocks and lift travel restrictions, withdraw its forces from
Palestinian cities and limit its military activities. Israel is expected
to accede to the American requests.
Sharon has already agreed to
permit Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to participate in the
elections.
Senior PA officials told the European Union's Middle
East envoy, Javier Solana, during meetings in the territories last weekend
that the success of the elections depends on achieving unity and avoiding
violence, as well as Israel's willingness to open roadblocks and improve
the quality of life in the territories, and to stop preventive actions and
targeted killings. Palestinians said they believed they could achieve an
internal cease-fire quickly and that Israel would respond by stopping its
preventive operations. They said that, under present conditions, it would
be difficult to ask the various factions to lay down their weapons.
Sharon told Likud activists last Thursday that he understands that
disarming and disbanding the terror organizations would take time, and he
was therefore presenting two other demands in order to "seriously
scrutinize" the new Palestinian leadership: stopping incitement in the
Palestinian media and changing educational materials that are hostile to
Israel.
Sources said Sharon had presented his proposal ahead of
Powell's visit and that of Powell's British and Russian counterparts this
week, so talks would focus on what the Palestinians could do and not on
demands on Israel.
"We reject the setting of preconditions to the
renewal of negotiations," Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) said in
response to Sharon's demands. Israel itself uses serious incitement as it
continues in its acts of killing, assassination and incursions into
Palestinian territory. It needs to stop this, only then are we prepared to
fulfill all our obligations and create the right atmosphere for the
renewal of the peace process."
Palestine Liberation Organization
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) said in response to Sharon's demands:
"The issue of incitement is a matter for both sides and has been discussed
more than once in the past. We may have things like this but they are more
common on the Israeli side."
In spite of the declarations by the
senior PA officials, direct talks have begun between Sharon's office and
the PA on ongoing matters.
Senior sources in the administration
told MK Yossi Beilin (Yahad) last week that the United States is
considering renewing its monitoring of implementation of the road map and
to assist in disengagement and the PA elections. During Abbas' tenure as
PA prime minister, the U.S. dispatched a group of monitors headed by U.S.
envoy John Wolf, which operated from the U.S. embassy in Tel
Aviv.
Beilin said U.S. officials both in the administration and
Congress stressed that President George Bush would like to move ahead soon
with the peace process, and that he believes a singular opportunity has
presented itself with Arafat's death and before disengagement. The U.S.
administration reportedly believes Israel is meeting its obligations at
this point and is waiting for progress in the disengagement
process.
Beilin asked administration officials to combine
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip with the implementation of the first part
of the road map and to determine a timetable for moving ahead with both
processes. According to Beilin, he was urged to extend Sharon a safety net
to allow him to implement disengagement.
Qureia said yesterday
that during Powell's upcoming visit, he will ask that the administration
commit itself to the establishment of a Palestinian state by the end of
2005. Qureia said he objected to recent statements by Bush from which it
could be understood that Bush intends to work toward the establishment of
a Palestinian state by the end of his second term in office in 2008.
"We will ask the Americans for a clear commitment to the original
timetable for the road map and about the link between disengagement and
the road map, so the state can be established next year. Talk of
establishing the state by 2008 will allow Israel to continue building
settlements and swallowing more Palestinian land, which will damage the
peace process," Qureia said.
Yesterday, Qureia met in Ramallah with
the U.S. consul-general in East Jerusalem, David Pierce, in order to
prepare for Powell's meeting tomorrow in Jericho with the Palestinian
leadership. Palestinian sources say the meeting on Monday will lay the
groundwork for a renewal of talks with the U.S. after Arafat's death and
ahead of a visit by Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice in a few
weeks.