Posted on 11/21/2004 11:20:29 AM PST by yonif
Palestinian leaders outlined plans Sunday to persuade visiting American envoys to pressure Israel into removing troops from urban areas to ensure smooth elections to replace Yasser Arafat.
"If elections are held under occupation, people will say the candidate rode in on top of an Israeli tank," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahemd Qurei told Reuters, alluding to fears ordinary Palestinians would view agreement to run in such circumstances as kowtowing to Israel.
Kicking off a week of intensive post-Arafat diplomatic activity - which will include visits by outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov - US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns met Sunday with Israel's national security adviser. He later traveled to the West Bank city of Ramallah to hold talks with the interim Palestinian leadership in the first visit of a senior American official to the Palestinian areas in months.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians want the Americans to pressure Israel to remove troops from areas they have taken over during the fighting to ensure Palestinians are not intimidated during the elections on January 9.
The Palestinians area also trying – through the Americans – to work out a meeting on elections arrangements with Israeli counterparts, he said. "We are expressing a readiness to meet with the Israeli side in order to coordinate with them immediately the administrative and security arrangements," Erekat said.
Burns visit laid the ground for Powell's arrival, scheduled for later Sunday evening. One senior Israeli official said that this weeks diplomatic visits to the PA reflect a "new momentum" following Yasser Arafat's death. The officials said Israel expects that in the initial stage, these talks will focus on the upcoming Palestinian Authority elections, and how to ensure they get off the ground.
"I am here to stress strong American support for the Palestinian election," Burns said after a meeting with interim Palestinian Authority President Rauhi Fattouh. Voting is set for Jan. 9, and Burns said the United States expects Israel to help.
"We are determined to do everything we can to help in that process and we also support steps by Israel which are needed to facilitate this election," he said, but he did not elaborate.
Another official said the visit should be seen as a "maintenance visit" before National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice takes over at the State Department. Rice's appointment is expected to be approved sometime in January.
Powell is expected to ask Israel to pull back troops from Palestinian cities to ensure that the elections are carried out.
"We have a national security interest in having the Palestinian Authority run better than it is now," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev. "We will do everything we can to facilitate the elections."
Powell, who is arriving from a visit to South America, is not scheduled to hold any talks Sunday evening. He is expected to hold discussions with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Monday, before going to Jericho for talks with the PA leadership.
US officials denied that the meetings with the Palestinians will take place in Jericho – rather than Ramallah – so as to spare Powell the diplomatic dilemma of whether to pay his respects at Arafat's grave. One US official said it is simply more "convenient" to hold the talks in Jericho.
Following his Monday meetings, Powell will go to Sharm e-Sheikh to attend an international conference on Iraq. He is also expected to take part there in a meeting with Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to discuss steps that need to be taken to move forward the Quartet-backed road map. The quartet is made up of the US, EU, Russia, and the UN.
Both Lavrov and Straw are slated to arrive after the Sharm meeting, with Straw expected on Wednesday, and Lavrov on Thursday.
Well I'm walking to work tomorrow. Not safe to ride buses when the peace politicians are in town. Traditionaly the Pali's sacrifice a few buses to Allah then.
This time it may be safe because they are busy killing each other to take over the PA, but why take a chance that this time it will be different?
Isn't Powell out of a job?
Not yet.
Smart Move, Good ForThe Heart Too.......
Israel: Where it is safer to be in the military than a civilian.
Israel: Where the government responds to genocidal attacks against it by forcibly removing *Jews* from the Land of Israel.
Israel: Where saying "No arabs, no terror" will land you in jail.
Israel, land of many patholgical, self-hating fascists committed to national suicide.
(Sorry Israel, you can't arrest me, I'm in the U.S. where we have *Freedom of Speech*)
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