Posted on 02/10/2005 1:44:38 PM PST by anotherview
Feb. 10, 2005 22:55 | Updated Feb. 10, 2005 23:07
Envoy to US: Referendum may erode American support
By HERB KEINON
Israel may lose ground in Washington if it carriers out a disengagement referendum that will delay implementation of the plan, Israel's ambassador to the US Danny Ayalon indicated Thursday, just two days after Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom came out full force in favor of the referendum.
"In my view I don't think anything that will postpone, or interfere, with the timetable or orderly manner of carrying out disengagement would be viewed favorably in Washington," Ayalon told The Jerusalem Post.
Ayalon's words, at odds with the head of the ministry he serves, underscores the awkward situation that Shalom's support for the referendum has created.
Ayalon, who was in Israel this week for US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit, said before flying back to Washington that, "In my view the Americans will not interfere in Israel's domestic agenda, and they will not make any reference whatsoever to the referendum.
"However, they have stressed repeatedly in all their meetings in Jerusalem, and said it publicly, that the timetable should be kept, and it is important to carry out the disengagement according to schedule and without any obstacles," he said.
Rice, in a press conference she gave at Ben-Gurion Airport before leaving Monday, made clear that US President George W. Bush's assurances to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in April were dependent on Israel carrying out the disengagement plan.
Those assurances included US opposition to the Palestinian claim for the right of refugees to return to pre 1967 Israel; as well as an appreciation that there were "new realities on the ground," and therefore it is unrealistic to expect a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre 1967 borders.
"Our hope is that whatever happens that there will be no delay in the disengagement plan and the withdrawal from Gaza because the United States has made very clear that we believe very strongly that this is a very positive step, and that any discussion that the United States has had, assurances that we have given and talked about are in the context of that withdrawal," Rice said.
Ayalon, when asked what the US wanted to see Israel do right now, replied, "now they want us to complete the disengagement."
Turning to Rice's announcement of the appointment of US Army Lt.-Gen. William Ward as a special US security coordinator, Ayalon said that at least in the short term he would be focused on the Palestinians, not the Israelis.
"The appointment is very important in the sense that he will monitor the Palestinians' security action, and will help reform their security apparatus and make sure that they make good on what they promised, and on what is demanded, or expected of them according to the road map," he said.
Ayalon said the US Administration was looking for a deputy for Ward who had "police and law enforcement" experience, a sign that one of his main roles would be to make the Palestinian security apparatus more effective.
Ayalon said Ward's immediate function – an idea initiated by Washington – would primarily be to "chaperon" the PA security apparatus and build it into a body effectively able to fight terror.
Only down the line, he said, would Ward likely be helpful in possibly facilitating direct bilateral security discussions between the sides.
Ayalon said that Rice's visit here, her first visit abroad as Secretary of State, is an indication of the degree to which the US planned to be engaged in the process.
But, he said, "in terms of the characteristics of involvement, it will basically be in a supporting role, rendering the sides a political or economic safety net. They will not replace the parties in the negotiations, nor do they want to get into the midst of things." He said one role, a role Bush himself is likely to play during his visit to Europe later this month, would be to mobilize the international community, including the Arab world, to support the fledgling diplomatic process.
Despite some expectations that the Europeans will push Bush to speed up the process and press Israel to move immediately into the road map, Ayalon said Israel and the US were "on the same page" regarding the need to "proceed in a very judicious manner, without any kind of short-cuts, which could just blow up in or faces, like Camp David did in 2000."
Ayalon, who characterized Rice's visit as "excellent," dismissed as "baloney" reports that there had already been a pro-Palestinian tilt – a least in rhetoric – in the Administration's attitudes towards the conflict.
"The US is now obviously on much better terms with the Palestinians, because when [Yasser] Arafat was around there was no relationship, a complete rupture and disconnect," he said.
Ayalon said that the change in Palestinian leadership obviously improved US-Palestinian relations, but that this was not a zero-sum-game. "This improvement is not coming at Israel's expense," he said.
Threatening members of the government, causing concern in Washington. The extremists among the settlers are already doing Israel harm.
Ariel Sharon has no control over who is or is not in the Knesset. Sorry, your argument holds no water.
Tell your friends to get ready to swim off the beach.
Thank you once again for showing your true colors and what you truly wish for us.
Israel did vote on it's future. You just don't like the outcome.
Did you follow the Prime Minister's campaign? What did you think he meant when he said he would have no Cabinet minister who didn't support a Palestinian state? The Prime Minister said precisely what he would do and the Israeli people elected him by a landslide.
I love these armchair keyboard American warriors. You won't die in the next war or the next terror attack because you are safely thousands of miles away, yet you tell us how wrong our leaders are for doing what our people want. Shame on you.
Way too much public posturing going on.
Never again, eh?
> And the last I heard you moved here to the States!
You mean fron the States, no? Sorry, but I have not.
The Evil one's government is hanging by a thread, you are mobilizing thousands of armed troops against your own citizens, large scale civil disobedience or even civil war looms, the US is paying your genocidal enemy tens of millions and paving the way (a state) for that genocidal enemy to finish you off....but your concern is the "settlers."
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