14 March 2003
Middle East Peace Plan Could Be Delivered in Days, U.S. Official Says
(In Washington Foreign Press Center briefing, he expands on Bush's
comments) (1090)
By Ralph Dannheisser
Washington File Special Correspondent
Washington -- The outline for a path to peace in the Middle East could
be formally delivered to Israel and the Palestinians "within a few
days" -- just as soon as the Palestinian legislative council confirms
a "credible" prime minister with "real authority" -- a senior Bush
administration official said March 14.
The official gave that optimistic timetable in a press briefing at
Washington's Foreign Press Center, in which he expanded on President
Bush's announcement earlier that the U.S. would soon transmit to
Palestinians and Israelis the "roadmap" to peace developed by the
Quartet, consisting of the United States, the United Nations, the
European Union and Russia.
Two recent developments -- elections in Israel which led to the
formation of a new government, and the Palestinian creation in the
past few days of a post of prime minister that could become the new
focus for negotiations -- make this "an auspicious time to move
forward to peace in the Middle East" and toward realizing the
president's vision of "two states, Israel and Palestine, living side
by side in peace and security," the official said.
He termed the timing "a reaction to what's happening in the
Palestinian institutions" -- which he said the United States views as
"the beginnings of real reform."
Asked repeatedly how the announcement at this time might be related to
the intensifying crisis over Iraq, the official insisted "it is not
related to any extraneous event anywhere else in the world."
Rather, he said, "The Palestinian Legislative Council has been
considering this question (the designation of a prime minister) in
this past week, and important decisions lie ahead literally in the
next few days, so this was the moment to weigh in and say that we are
prepared, if this comes out in a positive fashion, to react
immediately."
"We hope that the possibility of releasing the roadmap within a few
days and beginning to work with the parties on it will actually be an
incentive to the Palestinians to make the new position real and
powerful," he added.
When reporters asked what he and the president meant by "real
authority" for the new prime minister, the official responded, "There
are many forms of authority -- clearly authority with respect to the
cabinet, with respect to security, with respect to finances."
Pressed further on the point, he said the United States hopes to see
selection of "a person who, in the Palestinian political world ... is
not simply subservient to the president (Yasser Arafat)." And, he said
the United States "will make the judgment: is it a credible person and
does this person have credible powers in the position of prime
minister?" he said.
"In our view, the more authority that the prime minister has, the
better," he added.
Asked about his views on appropriate candidates for the prime
minister's job, and specifically on the selection of Mahmoud Abbas,
who appears to be in line to fill the post, the official responded,
"We don't have any candidate. That's up to Palestinians to decide."
"When we see the person and the powers of the office, which we think
will be settled in just a few days, then we and other members of the
Quartet would presumably make a judgment," he said.
Nor did he respond directly when he was asked whether it was essential
to strip Arafat of his leadership role. "The American position with
respect to Mr. Arafat is well known and I don't need to repeat it
here," he said.
Again, when asked whether Bush would be willing to receive the new
prime minister once named, the official answered, "We have not yet
taken up the question of invitations, so we'll wait on that and see."
Responding to a question about whether the United States could focus
on a hoped-for negotiating process at the same time that leaders are
dealing with the Iraq crisis, the official suggested this would pose
no problem.
"The first step [once the roadmap is formally turned over] is not
ours," he said. "Then we are asking for reactions and contributions
from the Israelis and the Palestinians. We can do that."
He made clear that such input from the two sides would be pivotal.
"Their contributions are critical," he said, since the peace being
sought is not with members of the Quartet, but rather, "a peace
between themselves."
"I would hope that they would be able to come back to us quickly ...
and I'm hoping that they can do this in a matter of days and weeks." A
swift response will allow the parties to make needed changes and then
"get down to the real business, which is not debating the roadmap,
it's implementing the roadmap," he said.
A first step for Israel, once the Palestinian side engages in real
negotiations, must be "to improve the daily lives of Palestinians," by
taking steps "to address at the very outset the humanitarian situation
which is afflicting so many Palestinians," the official said.
Asked about the president's comment, in his morning remarks in the
White House Rose Garden, that "as progress is made toward peace,
settlement activity in the occupied territories must end," the
official responded, "This is not a change in American policy. ... The
president has made his view very clear that as soon as we begin to get
to work on peace, as soon as there is movement, we're going to have to
address the issue of the settlements."
Returning to linkages with the Iraq situation, a reporter asked the
official to comment on the view, attributed to some in the
administration, that bringing democracy to that nation would have a
"domino effect" throughout the Middle East.
"What the president has said is that the democratization of Iraq will
have a positive influence, a very positive influence, on the Gulf
region and more broadly the Middle East. We believe that very firmly,"
the official said.
"I wouldn't call it a domino theory, which suggests automaticity," he
added. "There will be difficulty and work, much work, in the spread of
democracy in the region. What we are saying is that if Iraq ... were a
democracy, helping espouse and promote democracy, Iraq's potential
leading role in the region and in the Arab world as a democracy would
have a very positive impact."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
