A rchive Date
[ 26-05-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/1923309
Bush stirs pot for Mideast summit
President may meet with Israelis, Palestinians to push `road map'
By BENNETT ROTH
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
May 23, 2003, 11:17PM
CRAWFORD - With the Israelis signaling support for a U.S.-backed, Middle East peace plan, President Bush indicated Friday that he was open to convening a summit with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to push the effort along.
The meeting, which may be tacked onto the end of the president's European trip that begins late next week, would mark the first time that Bush would engage in high-level talks with the principal parties in the Middle East conflict.
The president suggested the possibility of the high-profile event after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in Jerusalem that he supported the peace plan and would present it to his Cabinet for approval as early as Sunday. The Palestinians have already backed the multiphase initiative, which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
Before endorsing the plan, Sharon had received assurances from Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell that the United States would address Israel's security concerns as the plan unfolds.
The president, meeting at his ranch with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, indicated that he would do his best to encourage the success of what is being called the "road map."
"I'm exploring the opportunities as to whether or not I should meet with (Palestinian) Prime Minister Abu Mazen, as well as Prime Minister Sharon," Bush said. "If a meeting advances progress toward two states living side-by-side in peace, I will strongly consider it."
Bush said Sharon accepted the road map plan "because I assured him that the United States is committed to Israel's security." "As we move forward," Bush said, "we will address any concerns that might arise regarding Israel's security."
Until recently, Bush has refused to become actively engaged in Middle East negotiations, believing that his predecessor, Bill Clinton, spent too much political capital in trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute without achieving any results.
But Bush has done an about-face in the past few months and has embraced the road map proposal developed by the United States, Russia and other European allies. The plan, among other things, calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and a Palestinian crackdown on terrorist groups.
The peace plan, which Bush endorsed after the confirmation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, appeared in jeopardy after terrorist groups carried out six suicide bombings in Israel over the past week. Sharon canceled a trip to Washington because of the bombings.
But the administration intensified its negotiations, including a secret meeting held earlier this week at the White House between Bush and the Palestinian finance minister, Salam Fayyad. Bush confirmed that meeting and said he had spoken by phone with Sharon and the Palestinian prime minister.
"I understand it's going to be difficult to achieve peace, but I believe it can happen," he said.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush's 20-minute clandestine Oval Office session on Wednesday with the Palestinian finance minister took place after the president returned from giving the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut.
It was the first meeting that Bush has had with a Palestinian official since assuming office in January 2001.
The president has refused to speak with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whom the administration considers untrustworthy and unwilling to crack down on militant groups in the region.
Fleischer defended the secretive nature of the meeting with the finance minister, which was not disclosed until a day after it happened.
"Sometimes the best diplomacy is allowing quiet meetings to take place, allowing the leaders to report back to their officials," Fleischer said.
The final breakthrough came after Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice issued a statement that said the United States would "fully and seriously" consider Israel's objections to the road map plan.
Israeli officials have been concerned that the Palestinians are not committed to cracking down on terrorist groups such as Hamas, which took responsibility for an explosion Friday on an Israeli bus that wounded two people.
But Palestinian officials say that before they can put pressure on some of these militant groups, the Israelis need to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process, including the withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Even if both sides accept the broad outlines of the road map, there are plenty of other thorny issues to negotiate. Israel has balked at the Palestinians' demand for the right of return of Palestinian refuges and descendents who were forced out of their homes in Israel.
Sharon, too, faces resistance from hard-liners in Israel who oppose any attempt to freeze Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian areas.
If the Middle East summit takes place, it will likely occur as part of a trip abroad that the president is expected to embark on next Friday that includes stops in Poland, Russia and France - where he will attend the annual G-8 meeting of industrialized nations.
The White House also has said Bush may visit U.S. troops stationed in Kuwait or Qatar.
Sharon's willingness, at least for now, to accept the road map, may defuse criticism Bush has received at home from conservative Christians, who are opposed to Israel giving up land that they believe the Bible says belongs to the Jews.
A number of prominent Jewish groups have endorsed the proposal.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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