The United States is embarking on a diplomatic offensive to support the road-map for a Middle East
The United States is embarking on a diplomatic offensive to support the “road-map” for a Middle East peace settlement by 2005. The plan, drawn up by America, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, was given yesterday to Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Mahmoud Abbas. Next week, he is to travel to Israel and the occupied territories, where he will throw Washington’s weight behind the peace process.The road-map, considered by many as hugely optimistic, falls into three stages, all to be crammed into little more than 30 months. The first stipulates an end to terrorism, normalisation of Palestinian life, Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian towns and a freeze on settlement activity. The second phase is intended to see the creation of an independent Palestinian state, and Palestinian elections.
The third stage will bring about a permanent status agreement, an end to the conflict – and the resolution of issues that have hampered negotiations for decades. These include deals on the final borders of the two states, the fate of Israeli settlements, the right to return of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem. Arab states, most notably Syria, which General Powell will visit this weekend, will be expected to sign peace treaties.The success of the road-map depends on the leverage America has acquired in the region after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime. That gave Washington more authority than at any time since the elder President George Bush triumphed in the 1991 Gulf War. The question now is whether his son is ready to use that leverage.Unrelenting pressure from Washington was what secured the appointment of Mr Abbas to replace President Yasser Arafat, with whom the White House will not deal. By contrast, Mr Abbas has been invited to Washington to meet George Bush, though Ari Fleischer, Mr Bush’s spokesman, said yesterday that no date had been established.But Mr Sharon is a different matter. The Israeli side has let it be known that it regards the road-map as “open to further discussion” and has called for amendments in a dozen areas Mr Bush pledged his commitment to the plan yesterday.
Though he called for a two-state solution to the conflict in 2002, the President has thus far never seriously attempted to confront the Israeli Prime Minister.For Israel, the road-map is a non-starter unless there is a demonstrable end to terrorist attacks against the Jewish state. Yet barely had the Abbas administration been approved by the Palestinian parliament than a suicide bomber killed himself and two others in an attack on a Tel Aviv nightclub.Responsibility was claimed by the radical Hamas group and by an offshoot of Mr Arafat’s Fatah organisation, prompting Israeli officials to claim that Mr Abbas cannot fulfil his promise to crack down on terrorism.Mr Sharon has said he is ready to make what he called “painful concessions” as part of a peace deal, and give up some settlements. But Palestinians say there is a marked contrast between Mr Sharon’s words and his government’s deeds. They have accused Israel of trying to pre-empt the independent Palestinian state. They point to the “security fence” the Israeli government is building and to the continued expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.
