US Envoy Presses Mideast Mission Despite Wariness

24/10/2002| IslamWeb

U.S. envoy William Burns pressed on with his Middle East peace mission on Thursday despite reservations from Israelis and Palestinians about the diplomatic "roadmap" he brought with him.Burns, on the second day of his visit, met Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and then traveled to the West Bank city of Jericho for talks with Palestinian officials before an evening meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon .

He had no plans to see Palestinian President Yasser Arafat , whom Washington has tried to sideline from peace moves.
The trip, widely seen as an attempt to keep a lid on Israel-Palestinian violence to help Washington court Arab support for a possible war on Iraq, marked the first high-level U.S. diplomatic effort in the region in months.

But expectations were low after two years of fighting and a series of failed international peace missions.

Both sides have voiced wariness over the U.S.-led "roadmap" initiative, with Israeli officials saying it was short on security guarantees and Palestinians saying it lacked timetables and mechanisms of enforcement.

Burns, an assistant secretary of state, was presenting a phased plan calling for a cessation of violence, Palestinian reforms and Israeli occupation army pullbacks leading to a final settlement and Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by 2005.

Sharon expressed concern it might not address Israel's security needs -- namely assurances resistance man violence would not resume if Israeli occupation troops withdrew from West Bank cities reoccupied in June after a rash of resistance bombings.

"Every time there are cries for an agreement, a wish to ease (military) restrictions, an attempt to break the cycle of violence, the murderous terrorist gangs and their leader quickly show they have no desire for a solution," Sharon said in a speech to a congress of his Likud party on Wednesday night.

"They do not want peace," the right-wing leader said.

Palestinian officials accuse Sharon of the same thing, citing the occupation army clampdown, which has crippled Palestinian institutions, and the consolidation of Jewish settlements.

Earlier on Thursday, occupation troops carried out raids in the West Bank city of Qalqilya. The occupation army said it arrested 12 wanted Palestinians. Witnesses said they included resistance men and security men.

CONCERN ABOUT PALESTINIAN HARDSHIPS

Burns said after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Wednesday that Washington was concerned about the hardships of Palestinian civilians in the occupation army's grip.

Peres, the leading dove in Sharon's broad-based coalition, welcomed the initiative but said it was flawed.

"Naturally, from our standpoint, the most urgent and demanding issue is security," Peres told reporters.

Palestinian officials say Israel's measures have deepened bitterness and incited violence during the two-year-old uprising against Israeli occupation.

Washington has urged Israel to relieve the pressure but Israel froze steps in that direction after 14 people were killed on Monday in a resistance car bombing in northern Israel.

Israel reacted to previous major attacks with occupation army assaults. But this time Sharon, heeding U.S. calls to avoid worsening Middle East tensions, refrained from swift retaliation.

At least 1,625 Palestinians and 618 Israelis have been killed in the uprising that began after talks on terms for a Palestinian state collapsed. Palestinians won self-rule in West Bank and Gaza cities under interim peace deals during the 1990s.

PHOTO CAPTION

Assistant Secretary of State William Burns (R), meets Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Tel Aviv on Oct. 23, 2002. Israeli and Palestinian officials voiced doubts on Wednesday about a new U.S.-led initiative aimed at ending two years of conflict as Washington's Middle East envoy William Burns arrived in the region to present the plan. (Havakuk Levison/Reuter