Posted on 12/16/2003 5:07:05 PM PST by yonif
WASHINGTON – United States Secretary of State Colin Powell last week privately made clear that if Palestinian militants struck a cease-fire Washington would be better able to press Israel to take reciprocal steps under a U.S.-backed peace plan, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.
The official, who asked not to be named, said Powell had not made specific promises in talks on the matter with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman last week and the official stressed that a cease-fire had to be part of a broader Palestinian push to end attacks on Israelis.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher will arrive in Israel next Monday for an official visit, but will not meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, said a government source in Jerusalem Tuesday.
Details of the visit were finalized in a recent meeting between Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Geneva.
At talks held by Palestinian militant groups, senior Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed al-Hindi said Tuesday that the organizations will be unwilling to change their position on a cease-fire unless the Egyptians come up with new guarantees.
The statement came after a delegation of Egyptian mediators arrived in the Gaza Strip for a fresh effort to strike a deal with the groups on calling a cease-fire with Israel.
"The position remains that there can be no truce for free, a truce should have a price, a political price on behalf of the Palestinian people and not cosmetic measures on the ground," al-Hindi said.
But militant leaders in Gaza said that despite the failure of an earlier round of talks in Cairo, they were willing to hear out the Egyptians.
"The failure of the Palestinian factions to reach an agreement in Cairo is not the end of dialogue," said Nafez Azzam of Islamic Jihad.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have led a suicide-bombing campaign that has killed hundreds of Israelis over the last three years, have said they first wanted a guarantee Israel would cease attacks and pull back from occupied territory.
The U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which aims at the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, has been stymied for months with neither side eager to take the steps it demands.
The Palestinian Authority has so far failed to crack down on militant groups, with Palestinians saying that to do so would trigger a civil war, while Israel has failed to ease many restrictions on the movements of Palestinians.
The senior U.S. official stressed that Washington expected the Palestinian authority to start to take away the capacity of militant groups to launch attacks on Israel.
"We've always said a cease-fire could be good but it was not an end in itself, it has to be a part of closing tunnels, ending bomb factories and putting out of business ... the people and groups who carry out violence," the official said.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and his Bosnian counterpart Mladen Ivanic are both in Israel, and are scheduled to meet Shalom and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Fischer was scheduled to address the Herzliya Conference on Israeli security issues on Tuesday.
At the Cairo talks, which ended last week, Hamas refused to agree to the final draft proposed by Fatah and the Egyptians, in which the cease-fire against civilian targets would be "unconditional" and independent of any commitment on the part of the Israelis.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said at the Herzliya Conference on Tuesday that Israel is not "willing to be party to a truce between the Palestinian Authority and the terrorist groups," adding that Israel "demands an end to terrorism."
Mofaz called on Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia to return to the negotiating table for talks based on the internationally-brokered road map for Middle East peace.
"Abu Ala [Qureia] will find us ready to talk and to make courageous decisions, for an agreement and negotiations as equals."
Mofaz said that the intensified actions of the terrorist organizations made it difficult for Israel to ease restrictions on the Palestinian population in the territories.
Qureia's government and the militants disagree not only on the terms of a truce, but also on possible power-sharing.
The previous round of talks, which were held in Cairo between the heads of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other factions, along with Qureia, ended last week without achieving an agreement on a total or partial cease-fire.
Hamas head Abdel Aziz Rantisi said his group would be willing to be subsumed under the Palestine Liberation Organization, which would function as an umbrella organization, but said one of his conditions was that Hamas must receive a suitable position in the PLO establishment, Israel Radio reported Tuesday.
Qureia hinted Monday at new progress. "We have been discussing this at every meeting and it is a Palestinian priority, and God willing we will have a new important development in coming days," he said, declining to elaborate.
The Egyptian envoys, led by General Moustafa El-Bohairi and General Mohammed Ibrahim, were due to hold separate talks with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
Palestinian Legislative Council chairman Rafiq Natche and council member Hanan Ashrawi told Al-Jazeera television Tuesday that the armed Palestinian factions have caused chaos in the Palestinian community, Israel Radio reported.
Ashrawi said that the Palestinian judicial system and security forces must be reformed, according to Israel Radio.
Haven't you gotten the memo?
It's the "Global War on Terrorism Except For That Directed at Israelis"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.