 |
 |
 |
|
|
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State William Burns addresses a news conference at the American Cultural center in Damascus on Tuesday. (AP)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Ellis Shuman October 23, 2002 |
|
| |
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns arrives in Israel today for consultations with officials on a draft version of the so-called American "road map" to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon criticized the plan's call for Israel to take "irreversible steps" which were not conditioned to Palestinian actions against terror and incitement.
Burns arrives in Israel from Damascus as part of American efforts to hear Israeli, Palestinian and regional responses to the six-page peace plan draft worked out by members of the Quartet - the United States, European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. A final version, taking into consideration points raised during Burns's consultations, is due to be prepared in December. The "road map" is intended to serve as a step-by-step plan for implementing U.S. President George W. Bush's Middle East vision as presented in a June speech.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Burns described Monday's terrorist attack at Karkur Junction as "reprehensible" and said it was a blow to Palestinian efforts for an independent state. "It does severe damage to Palestinian interests and aspirations; it cannot be tolerated by anyone who genuinely is interested in peace," Burns said, clearly noting that Islamic Jihad, the terrorist organization that perpetrated the attack, has offices in Damascus.
Burns will meet today with Israeli security officials and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. In addition to Sharon, he is expected to meet with Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Palestinian officials. Burns will not meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Sharon: aspects of plan "problematic"
Sharon held consultations on Tuesday to prepare Israel's response to the American plan. Sharon told reporters that Israel accepts Bush's plan in principle, but that he would raise reservations to certain aspects of the plan in his talks with Burns.
In his first public comments on the plan Sharon told a delegation of Anti-Defamation League officials that it was "not credible that Israel takes irreversible steps while the other side only makes statements. There is a danger Israel will face a timetable that only it is required to keep to."
Sharon said the plan had "problematic" aspects. "We have to stick to what was agreed in Washington regarding the Bush plan," he told delegation members, according to Ha'aretz. "It is of utmost importance that any progress to each stage be conditioned to the implementation of the previous stage. All progress has to be conditioned to determined action against terror and incitement. If that doesn't happen, it will be impossible to move toward a demilitarized state without final borders."
"The prime minister needs to make sure that there will be no progress from one stage of the plan to another until previous stages are fulfilled," a source close to Sharon told the Jerusalem Post. "There have to be tests of performance, not dates."
Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin said Israel would make no concessions to the Palestinians until all violence stops, but if it did, "it will be possible to accept" a provisional Palestinian state.
The American "road map" consists of three stages:
 The first stage involves reform of the Palestinian Authority, culminating in elections aimed at moving Chairman Yasser Arafat into a purely symbolic role.
The second stage would be the convening of an international conference in the fall of 2003 to discuss establishing a temporary Palestinian state.
The third stage of the "road map" would be talks on a permanent-status agreement, which would be concluded by the end of 2005.
"President Bush's vision speaks of the establishment of a Palestinian state in another three years," Peres told Israel Radio. "The road map naturally relates to that statement of the president. We have accepted President Bush's vision."
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
