U.S. Envoy in Israel with Peace 'Roadmap'

23/10/2002| IslamWeb

U.S. envoy William Burns arrived in Israel on Wednesday armed with a peace "roadmap" aimed at ending two years of Middle East conflict as Washington courts Arab support for a possible war on Iraq. A U.S. embassy spokesman said Burns was expected to hold talks later on Wednesday with Israeli officials, including Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and would meet Palestinian officials on Thursday.

Peres told Israel radio: "We have accepted President Bush's vision. What I can say is that the roadmap given to us can be considered a draft and they expected us to submit our remarks by December."

President Bush said in a speech in June that the Palestinians should choose a leadership "not compromised by terror." The plan Burns is carrying is expected to map out a way to establish a Palestinian state by 2005.

Burns arrived in Israel in the wake of a Palestinian resistance bombing on Monday that killed 14 people, the deadliest attack in four months.

On a tour of the region before arriving in Israel, Burns called the bombing "reprehensible" and a blow to the goal of Palestinian independence. He called on both sides for restraint to help advance toward a Palestinian state and regional stability.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Tuesday Israel was running out of occupation army options to combat resistance bombings and suggested it may be time to return to diplomacy.

Washington sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a source of discord as it seeks to persuade Arab states of the need for a possible military campaign against Iraq over its alleged development of weapons of mass destruction.

"If we are to succeed in ending occupation, building two states and resuming progress toward comprehensive peace it is critically important to stop the violence that has done so much to undermine legitimate Palestinian aspirations," Burns told reporters in Damascus on Tuesday.

"There has been far too much suffering and bloodshed on both sides and both sides have an obligation to make it stop."

LIMITED ISRAELI RESPONSE

The militant Islamic Jihad group said two of its members carried out Monday's resistance attack in Israel as revenge for Israel's assassination of its founder in 1995 and recent raids which have killed Palestinian civilians and combatants.

Israel responded to previous attacks with tough army assaults. But this time, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , mindful of U.S.
desire to keep a lid on Middle East violence, refrained from swift retaliation.

Israeli occupation forces mounted only limited operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

A tank force thrust into a neighborhood in the southern Gaza town of Rafah and destroyed the family home of a resistance man killed in a shootout with the occupation army recently.

Palestinian hospital officials said that 20 people were injured when the explosion rocked three nearby houses.

Speaking on Israeli television on Tuesday night, Ben-Eliezer said Israel's lack of occupation army options to stop resistance bombings indicated it may be time to explore a return to peacemaking.

"In effect, our inventory of what more can be done is running out," Ben-Eliezer, Labour Party leader in the coalition government, said.

"I think that...it would be worthwhile to begin some soul-searching and say that perhaps this is the time to begin to present our diplomatic agenda."

The statement exposed cracks in Sharon's coalition. He has said peacemaking cannot resume until anti-Israeli violence ends and Yasser Arafat is replaced as Palestinian leader.

Arafat, under pressure for democratic reforms, has decided the makeup of a new Palestinian cabinet and will present it to parliament early next week for approval, officials said.

The United States has conditioned the creation of a Palestinian state on reforms to Palestinian institutions, especially security services, and a change in leadership.

At least 1,625 Palestinians and 611 Israelis have been killed in the revolt that began in September 2000 after talks on independence stalled.

PHOTO CAPTION

Rescue workers remove the body of one of the victims of an October 21, 2002 resistance bombing that hit a bus in northern Israel killing 14 people. Israel planned to retaliate for the Palestinian bombing, but security sources said October 22 any response would be limited to avoid damaging U.S. preparations for a possible war on Iraq. (Nir Elias/Reuter