 |
 |
Newsletter : 2fax0626.txt
Directory | Previous file | Next file
Powell Explains U.S. Break with Arafat
By David Gollust (VOA-State Department)
Secretary of State Colin Powell is conducting telephone diplomacy in support of the Bush administration's new framework for Middle East peace that puts heavy stress on the need for new Palestinian leadership. Palestinian Authority chief Yasir Arafat is notably absent from Powell's call list.
Powell has spoken to his counterparts from Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia among others in the call-around which began before the President's speech Monday. And officials here insist the reception to the U.S. initiative has been supportive, even from moderate Arab states which have been closely tied to Arafat.
Bush committed the United States, in the long-awaited policy statement, to support creation of a Palestinian state with provisional boundaries once the Palestinians had elected a new leadership that was not compromised by terror. He also called on Israel to withdraw forces back to the lines of September 2000 as security improves and to halt settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza once violence ends. The president said a final-status agreement including full statehood for the Palestinians could be reached within three years.
Bush did not mention Arafat by name in the speech but other administration officials, including Powell, made it clear in subsequent remarks that there should be no role for him in a reformed Palestinian administration.
Powell explained the U.S. break with Arafat in a series of interviews Tuesday in which he stressed the administration's frustration with the Palestinian leader over his repeated failure to back up his rhetoric about curbing terrorism with action. The secretary told the U.S. funded Middle East Radio Network the turning point came in late April when he visited Arafat at his Israeli-encircled compound in Ramallah, and told him he had to make "a strategic choice" against terror if he wanted to remain a partner with the United States in peace efforts.
"I pleaded with him to make that choice, but unfortunately we have not seen enough action from the current leadership of the Palestinian Authority that did anything to bring things under control, even with the reduced security assets that they have," Powell said. "And after all our work in the last two months, consulting, resolving the situation at the Church of the Nativity, getting the Israelis to at least pull back from where they were, we still found that was responded to with even more terrible acts of terrorism. And we did not think that the current leadership was doing enough and was sufficiently empowered to do enough to bring this under control."
Powell told The New York Times he expects to travel to the region
for consultations soon, though not immediately. And he said a
planned ministerial-level conference on the Middle East, once
expected as early as this month, has been indefinitely set back by
continued suicide bombings and Israel's occupation of several West
Bank towns.
Arafat Downplays Apparent U.S. Call for His Ouster
By Larry James (VOA-Jerusalem)
Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat is downplaying President George W. Bush's call for new Palestinian leadership, saying it is up to the Palestinian people alone to choose their leaders. Speaking Tuesday in Ramallah, Arafat also pledged to pursue reforms and organize elections for early next year.
Bush detailed his vision for Middle East peace on Monday in Washington, saying Palestinians must choose new leaders who are not compromised by terror. He also called for the formation of a provisional Palestinian state. Secretary of State Colin Powell is actively calling leaders from the Middle East to get their reaction.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called the Bush speech balanced. Jordan said it is ready to work with the United States to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. European leaders also gave cautious welcome to the speech, saying it signals Washington's full re-engagement in the Middle East peace process. They also called for an international peace conference on the Middle East. However, European leaders refused to call for Arafat's removal. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan praised Bush's vision of peaceful coexistence between Israel and a future Palestinian state, but he said Arafat is a legitimate leader.
In Israel, Cabinet Minister Danny Naveh called the Bush speech a victory for Israel's contention that Arafat must be replaced and the Palestinian Authority reformed before peace prospects can improve.
When asked if he thought Bush was referring to him when he said the Palestinians must be led by those "not compromised by terror," Arafat said "definitely not." The Palestinian leader said that issue is to be decided by the Palestinian people.
Though Arafat does not consider Bush's remarks a call for his
removal, many others in the region clearly do. Palestinian Cabinet
Minster Saeb Erekat said Bush's call is unacceptable. He said
Arafat was democratically elected and Bush must respect the right
of the Palestinian people to choose their leader without outside
interference.
Bush's call for a change at the top of the Palestinian hierarchy
comes seven months after Israel's cabinet declared the Palestinian
leader "irrelevant" and broke off all direct contacts with him.
Change In Law Of Return Considered
By IsraelNationalNews.com
The ministerial committee on legislation approved a change to the Law of Return this week, allowing the non-Jewish grandchild of a Jew to be eligible to immigrate to Israel only if he arrives together with his/her grandparent.
The change, whose next stop on the legislative route is a first-reading vote in the Knesset, is designed to prevent masses of non-Jews from continuing to be eligible for automatic citizenship. Interior Ministry figures show that as it is, more than one-fourth of Israelis are not Jewish - a phenomenon that threatens the Jewish character of the State. Herut MK Michael Kleiner initiated the new amendment.
Several parties object to the change, especially Yisrael B'Aliyah - which is even threatening to quit the government if the change is approved. Even the National Union party says that now is not the right time to change the Law of Return. The newest MK, Rabbi Yehuda Gilad of the left-wing Labor-Meimad, is actually in favor of the new restriction, saying that preserving Israel's Jewish majority is at least as important as preserving its military security.
The Chairman of the Jewish Agency announced his opposition to the proposed changes in the Law of Return.
The following site and its historical presentation about the Jewish
presence in Palestine and Israel is well worth a visit:
http://www.conceptwizard.com/conflict.html
