Sharon: talks with Zinni will focus only on achieving cease-fire
By Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Correspondent
IDF Military Intelligence chief Amos Malka (R) and Shin Bet security head Avi Dichter after meeting with U.S. mediators Anthony Zinni and William Burns on Monday.
(Photo: Alon Ron)
Retired Marines Corps General Anthony Zinni will begin his mission Tuesday to get Israel and the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table with seven hours of meetings with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres appear to have sharp differences over the proper strategy and tactics for the Zinni mission.
Zinni, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns and veteran U.S. peace envoy Aaron miller arrived Monday in Israel and met immediately with Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter and Military Intelligence Commander Maj. Gen. Amos Malka, who briefed the Americans on the current security situation.
Tuesday morning, Zinni and his team will meet with Sharon, who has declared that Israel regards the Zinni mission to achieve a cease-fire as having "supreme importance" for Israel. But Sharon's selection of the negotiating team, headed by former Maj. Gen. Meir Dagan, is a clear indication that the prime minister believes the Zinni mission is limited to achieving a cease-fire.
According to Sharon, "Zinni's mission is a test for the Palestinian Authority and its chairman Yasser Arafat, to prove they intend to seriously advance the political process. Arafat has to make the strategic decision that he's giving up terrorism, because that's the only way to reach the negotiating table. As long as Arafat doesn't make that decision, there won't be a cease-fire."
"If Zinni can make Arafat do that, we'll all profit," said senior government sources Monday night.
Peres, who wanted to chair the Israeli side of the negotiations, believes that the Zinni mission has a much wider scope, since it is supposed to lead to the implementation of the Tenet work plan and Mitchell Report recommendations. According to Peres, Israel should be sending a top-level team to meet with Zinni, lest Washington believe that Jerusalem is deliberately downplaying the importance of the Zinni mission.
Arafat meanwhile has been meeting with Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, and Jordanian leaders in preparation for the Zinni mission, and named his long time associate Muhamed Qureia - Abu Ala - to head the Palestinian team. Abu Ala said yesterday that for the Palestinians, "the three issues are an end to the occupation, the establishment of a Palestinian state and a freeze on the settlements."
Sharon meanwhile is determined to stick to the seven days of quiet he wants before any advance toward political negotiations with the Palestinians. The Tenet work plan includes a seven-day period to lead into the Mitchell plan.
Zinni and his team were meeting Monday night at the Jerusalem consulate general's offices with U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer and Consul General Ronald Schlicher.
Sharon established a steering committee consisting of him, Peres and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, to oversee the work of the team headed by Dagan. Peres wanted that team was to include Foreign Ministry Director General Avi Gil, but Gil refused to join the team if Peres was not its chairman.
Ben-Eliezer said Monday that Zinni's mission "will start as a security mission that will gradually change into a political one," and said that he had instructed the army "to be generous" with the Palestinians. One possible move in the cards would be a withdrawal of the last remaining IDF troops positioned inside Area A, in Jenin. Defense establishment sources said that a Jenin withdrawal was under consideration. "But there's not a lot of room for creativity here," said one source.
After the meeting with Sharon Tuesday, Zinni, Burns, and Miller are slated to meet with Peres and Ben-Eliezer and his security team. |
