Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Prime
Minister Mahmoud Abbas are slated to meet at the end of this
week. Late reports said that meeting was scheduled for motzei
Shabbos at Sharon's Yerushalayim residence.
The meeting is the result of US Secretary of State Colin
Powell's visit to Israel and is described as marking the
beginning of the implementation of the road map proposed by
the Quartet: the United States, the European Union, the
United Nations and Russia.
Sharon is scheduled to travel to Washington next Sunday for a
meeting with US President George W. Bush.
Officials expected that the Sharon-Abbas meeting is likely to
be followed up with a meeting between Defense Minister Shaul
Mofaz and the PA's new security chief, Mohammed Dahlan. A
date for such a meeting has not been set.
The announcement of the Sharon-Abbas meeting came at the end
of separate meetings Powell held first in Jerusalem with
Sharon, Mofaz and President Moshe Katsav, and then in the
late afternoon in Jericho with Abbas (Abu Mazen) and senior
PA officials on Monday. Powell then left for brief visits to
Egypt and Jordan.
On Monday night suicide bombers struck at least four times in
Saudi Arabia, Powell's next stop, apparently murdering ten
and leaving dozens injured. The murderers shot their way into
the residential areas and then detonated huge bombs in cars
or trucks. Speaking in Amman, Powell said that it appeared to
be the work of al-Qaida. Powell still planned to visit Saudi
Arabia as scheduled.
Powell stressed during the meetings and during his press
conference in Israel that the road map requires the PA to
take immediate, frontal and concerted action against the
terrorist infrastructure, and not settle for a temporary
cease-fire.
Following a meeting with Sharon, Powell said, "We welcome the
positive political steps already taken by Palestinian
officials toward reform and toward peace. But we must also
see rapid, decisive action by Palestinians to disarm and
dismantle the terrorist infrastructure. Without such action
our best efforts will fail."
At the same time, Powell said he also expected Israel to take
actions to ease conditions for Palestinians in the
territories. He said Sharon told him about the steps Israel
has decided to take, and said they are "very promising and
helpful and shows Israel's commitment to begin this process
and not lose this moment of opportunities."
Powell said it was made clear that the US sees the
settlements as a problem, and that this "will be one of the
most difficult issues we have to deal with."
Nevertheless, Powell said that this issue, as well as the
issue of the Palestinians refugees' "right of return" and the
final status of Jerusalem will have to be tackled down the
line and should not be obstacles to immediate implementation
of the road map.
Powell made it clear in his press conference that the US will
have nothing to do with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and is
encouraging the rest of the world to adopt a similar policy.
He said that he and Sharon did not spend much time discussing
Arafat.
Some 110 Palestinian prisoners were released on Monday,
bringing to 180 the were number released since last weekend
as a confidence-building measure. Officials in Jerusalem said
the 70 prisoners released on Sunday and the 110 on Monday
are prisoners whose terms are nearing conclusion and who were
arrested for illegally entering Israel, not for involvement
in terrorist activities.
Among the other steps Israel indicated to Powell that it will
take are:
* Lifting the general closure on the territories.
Nevertheless, the internal closure, meaning making it
difficult for Palestinians to travel within the West Bank and
within the Gaza Strip and impossible to travel between the
two areas, will remain in place. However the closure on Gaza
was reinstated after only a few hours due to serious warnings
of attacks.
* Issuing 25,000 work permits.
* Allowing the convening of meetings of PA institutions
involved in governmental reform and allowing members of those
bodies to travel to the meetings.
* Reopening and expanding the Erez and Karni crossings into
the Gaza Strip.
* Beginning a dialogue with the PA over expanding the
industrial area in Gaza to employ more Palestinian
workers.
* Renewing security discussions with the PA.
In addition, Mofaz said the IDF will be prepared to move out
of the northern Gaza Strip when the new PA government proves
it can effectively take security control of the area.
"I presented to him the risks and our doubts about the [road
map] process," Mofaz said after meeting with Powell. "The
central message was that there will not be concessions on
security matters."
Palestinian Authority officials on Sunday expressed deep
disappointment with US Secretary of State Colin Powell's
talks with Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in
Jericho, saying Washington is focusing on putting pressure on
the PA rather than Israel.
"We were expecting Powell to put pressure on Israel to start
implementing the road map immediately," a senior PA official
said. "Instead, all we heard from Powell was that the
Palestinians should do more and more."
Several militant groups, including Fatah's armed wing, the
Aksa Martyrs Brigades, on Sunday strongly attacked the plan
and said they would resist any attempt to confiscate illegal
weapons.
Minister for Cabinet Affairs Yasser Abed Rabbo said after the
meeting that the results of the talks suggest the path ahead
is not so smooth. He said the main obstacle to resuming peace
talks remains Israel's insistence on reopening the road map
for revisions.
The new PA cabinet does not seek to end the armed struggle
against Israel, but to put an end to the "armed chaos" in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, Minister of Information Nabil Amr
said before the Abbas-Powell meeting.
He reiterated the cabinet's determination to end the state of
"armed chaos" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by collecting
illegal weapons and disarming militias.
"There should be one decision-making body and one law in
order to prepare for the climate for a political settlement,"
he said.
