Middle East peace process. Where is Bush?

[Ali]

Blair meets Sharon to revive peace process

BILL JACOBS
WESTMINSTER EDITOR


TONY BLAIR met Israeli premier Ariel Sharon today as he began a frantic effort to breathe new life into the Middle East peace process.

The talks with the Jewish leader were the first stage of a series of meetings aimed at trying to reconcile his government with the Palestinians.

The Prime Minister believes the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat recently opens a window of opportunity to get the peace process back on track.

But even as his talks with Mr Sharon began this morning, Israeli troops were moving into a refugee camp in Southern Gaza in a bid to flush out Arab militants who have been firing rockets and mortars at Israeli homes.

Mr Sharon has promised to pull Israeli settlers and soldiers out of the Gaza Strip - a move which split his government.

Mr Blair was holding two hours of talks with Mr Sharon before heading to the West Bank to meet Mahmoud Abbas - the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the favourite to succeed Mr Arafat as Palestinian President.

The talks are vital to try to ensure that the Gaza pull-out plan goes ahead.

Mr Blair hopes now to set up a special conference on the peace process in London next month, after elections to find Arafat’s successor. That conference would be aimed at shoring up the new leader, who would be encouraged to initiate reforms and take control of security as well as draw up plans for talks with Israel.

Such progress would be rewarded with international political support and economic assistance.

Mr Sharon has so far refused to send a delegation to the talks but he has said that 2005 offers a historic opportunity for peace with the Palestinians.

US President George Bush has indicated that he too is determined to bring peace to the region.

Mr Blair flew into Israel after visiting Baghdad and Basra - becoming the first world leader to actually go to the war-torn Iraqi capital.

He is trying to make a clear link between establishing a free democratic state in Iraq and defeating the insurgents and brokering a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

He believes that despite the size of the task, 2005 offers a historic opportunity to succeed in the latter with Britain being first president of the G8 group of industrialised nations and then the European Union.

And he hopes that Mr Bush will throw his full weight behind restarting the peace process in return for Britain’s support over toppling Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein.

However, the latest developments in Gaza, where Israeli tanks and bulldozers moved into the Khan Youmis refugee camp, show the difficulty of the task.

They pulled out of the camp on Sunday after a raid in which 11 Palestinians were killed and 40 houses destroyed.

But two days of bombardment - including mortars hitting a synagogue and a kindergarten in nearby Jewish settlements - were too much for the Israeli military.

Officers said the push would last about two days, and abandoned buildings being used as cover by gunmen would be destroyed.

As the bulldozers flattened several homes close to the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekelim, about 400 Palestinian schoolchildren threw stones at Israeli soldiers who responded by firing machine guns into the air.

This is the latest stage in four years of violence but the body language between Mr Sharon and Mr Blair was good as they shook hands warmly and exchanged brief greetings.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath welcomed the British initiative and said he hoped to see President Bush’s "road map" blueprint to set up a Palestinian state revived.

The President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, has called for Palestinian economic reforms and the lifting of Israeli travel restrictions in the West Bank in return for almost £400 million of aid for the Palestinians.

Following talks with the banker, Mr Sharon said it would be "hard to open crossings and road blocks when the Palestinians immediately exploit it for terror attacks".


This article:

http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1458032004

Middle East conflict:

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=13

Websites:

Israeli Government
http://147.237.72.16/eng/mainpage.asp

Palestinian National Authority
http://www.pna.org/

UN Relief & Works Agency for Palestinian refugees
http://www.un.org/unrwa/

US Dept of State Bureau for Near Eastern Affairs
http://www.state.gov/p/nea/

UK Foreign Office peace process site
http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?...=1007029394617

The Palestinian Information Center
http://www.palestine-info.com

[ASsman]

Dude, he totally said he wouldn't try that "Clinton bullshit".