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U.S. Sec. of State Colin Powell met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Tel Aviv Sunday evening. (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff April 15, 2002 |
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In a surprise announcement, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that he raised the idea of a regional peace conference with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday, and implied that the Americans were receptive to the idea.
"I said we are ready to have a regional conference in which a number of countries would participate - Israel, Egypt, the Saudis, Jordan, Morocco and Palestinian representatives. It doesn't have to be limited to these," Sharon said. "The conference would be hosted by the United States. This idea is acceptable to the United States and I estimate that within a short period of time the conference will indeed convene," he said, in an address to a high-tech conference in Tel Aviv.
Israeli political officials said that Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat would not be invited to participate. Representatives of Egypt and Jordan said they would not attend any international conference if Arafat not present.
Arafat told Fox News Sunday night that he welcomed the idea of a regional conference if U.S. President George W. Bush accepted the idea, and only after a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian territories.
"Any initiative that would be declared by President Bush, I will accept to achieve peace... I am ready for an immediate conference, but at the same time immediate withdrawal," Arafat said.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called the idea of a regional conference "a waste of time." Erekat said the proposal was no substitute for acceptance of the Saudi plan backed by last month's Arab summit in Beirut. "If Sharon wants to talk about peace, he can accept the Arab peace initiative or agree to end the occupation and withdraw to the June 4, 1967 lines," he said.
Washington has not officially commented on whether an agreement has been reached on a regional summit. Before Sharon's announcement, U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said that "it is too early to speak about a regional peace conference," but did not reject the idea.
"In principle, we are willing to do anything that will promote negotiations between the sides," American sources said. "Nothing yet is planned, but if the sides agree to this, we are willing to help."
It was not clear whether heads of state would participate in the conference Sharon was proposing or only foreign ministers. The latter format would obviate the need to decide about Arafat's attendance, but it would also enable Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to represent Israel rather than Sharon. Peres welcomed the conference proposal, saying it "would open a clear political horizon and a plan for economic recovery in the territories."
Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh (Labor) said the idea of a regional conference was "excellent" and "congruent with the American interest in establishing a coalition of moderate states in the region," but added that it "an illusion to think that other participants would come" if Arafat was excluded.
Opposition leader MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz) dismissed Sharon's proposal as a "public relations trick that has nothing to it." He said Sharon proposed it because "he understands that he must present something of a diplomatic nature at the end of the 'rolling military operation' in the West Bank.
"I don't think it will be possible to convene a conference without Arafat, not because I personally miss Arafat especially, but because the lack of his presence is unnatural. It is an Israeli dictate that cannot be accepted, and that everyone will reject," Sarid said.
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