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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (8357)	12/17/2004 11:00:16 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

Last Update: 17/12/2004 16:18 Israel supports U.K. peace summit, but won't participate By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies Israel supports a Middle East peace conference planned by British Prime Minister Tony Blair for February, but won't participate in it, senior political sources said Friday. They said Israel sees the conference as a forum for encouraging reforms in the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian, European and American representatives will be attending the conference. Blair is slated to visit Israel and the PA in a trip starting next Tuesday. Blair's senior foreign policy advisor, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, visited Israel early this week and assured Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Britain was not trying to jump-start a final peace deal, the British daily The Independent reported Friday. The paper said Britain has rejected any idea it ever sought a big international Middle East summit. Sharon has told Blair in a letter that he is giving his approval to the conference, the paper said. The letter stresses the importance of Palestinian economic reform because of the tendency of funds destined for the Palestinian Authority to disappear, the paper said. The letter also envisaged discussion of help with regenerating the Palestinian economy. Sharon aide Ra'anan Gissin, acknowledging that the conference would be obliged to discuss security as well as Palestinian reforms, told the paper: "Of course this is an issue. You don't get investment while there is terrorism." Palestinian Authority cabinet member Saeb Erekat said Thursday that the focus of the conference should be "on substance, and the substance here is ending the Israeli occupation." But Sharon's senior advisor, Dov Weisglass, said the conference would be a "meeting between Palestinians, a few European countries and a few American officials. It will entirely be focused on how the world can help the Palestinians prepare themselves for the new era." British officials maintained a diplomatic silence Thursday night during Sharon's speech at the Herzliya economic conference. Sharon told the conference that his disengagement plan was one that united the nation, and said that for Israel, "2005 is the year of great historic opportunity." In the coming year, he said, Israel will have "the opportunity for a historic breakthrough in the relations between us and the Palestinians, a breakthrough for which we have waited many years." Israel will also have the chance, said Sharon, "to establish a new partnership with the international community in the struggle against terror and regional and global instability." Sharon also said Israel would be prepared to coordinate its pullout from Gaza with a new Palestinian leadership that would take responsibility for fighting terrorism. However, PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas rejected Sharon's offer to coordinate Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip next year. "The terms mentioned by Sharon were not new," said Abbas. "They prejudge the final-status negotiations and are unacceptable." EU praises post-Arafat transition European Union leaders praised Palestinian authorities Friday for pursuing a peaceful transition of power after the November 11 death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. In the draft of a statement to be issued after a two-day EU summit, the Europeans urged Palestinians and Israelis to "maintain their current positive and cooperative attitude" in the wake of the death of the former Palestinian leader. The European leaders, closing a two-day summit, reiterated Europe's financial and other support for Palestinian presidential elections in January. "The EU will support the electoral process financially, technically and politically and its observer mission ... will help to verify" voting is democratic, free and fair, they said in the draft statement. They underlined their commitment to the road map peace plan - drafted by the EU, the United States, the United Nations and Russia - which foresees an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel. The Europeans said they were ready to "support an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern West Bank as a first step in the overall [peace] process." haaretzdaily.com