U.S. launches push to end Arab-Israeli conflict
Source: Reuters
(Adds Bush-Abdullah meeting) By Sue Pleming AMMAN, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The United States launched a new push to revive Middle East peace moves on Wednesday, with Washington under pressure from Arab allies to make it a priority. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem for talks on Thursday that the United States hopes will lead to an expansion of a ceasefire agreed between both sides last weekend in Gaza. Rice arrived in Jordan on Wednesday with President George W. Bush. The president met Jordan's King Abdullah and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a key topic of discussion. A senior U.S. official, speaking to reporters, said Bush and Abdullah agreed "this was a potential moment of opportunity". Abdullah told Bush the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian dispute was the "core conflict" in the region and that resolving it could be a catalyst for lasting Arab-Israeli peace, a Jordanian palace statement said. Rice will first attend a delayed summit in Amman early on Thursday between Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Washington is under pressure from allies such as Jordan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to tackle the Middle East conflict, while trying to halt violence in Iraq. Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed nearly six years ago. A senior State Department official made it clear late on Wednesday the two issues should not be "lumped together", saying the road to Baghdad was not via Jerusalem or vice-versa. "I think these issues have sufficient merits on their own," he told reporters, speaking on condition he was not identified. Hopes of reviving Israeli-Palestinian talks received a boost this week when a ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip to end five months of bloodshed and Olmert issued a new call for permanent peace with the Palestinians. The State Department official said he hoped the ceasefire could be extended to the West Bank and said Rice would urge both sides to do more to ease the security situation. UNITY GOVERNMENT Rice would also call for movement on breaking the impasse in forming a Palestinian unity government with Hamas, the Islamist militant group that won elections last January and whose administration is under Western sanctions. The State Department official said the Hamas government was "dysfunctional and nonfunctional" and talks to form a new government appeared to have hit some obstacles. "It would be a lot easier if we had a government with whom we could work, but that is not the case," he said. Abbas has told Jordan that talks on a unity government have hit a dead end and he will pursue other options. These could include dismissal of the Hamas government and the appointment of a new prime minister, a move that could lead to new violence between the militant group and Abbas's rival Fatah movement. After meeting Abbas in the ancient oasis city of Jericho, Rice heads to Jerusalem to meet Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for talks expected to look at how to ensure the ceasefire is fully implemented. In an early sign of progress, Egypt's intelligence chief met Olmert on Wednesday to discuss a possible exchange of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held by militants in Gaza. Following those talks, Israel released one of the Hamas government ministers it detained after militants abducted Corporal Gilad Shalit in June. It was not immediately clear whether the release could be part of a broader exchange. Officials said there was disagreement over the number of prisoners who would be freed, with Hamas's armed wing and two other groups that captured Shalit seeking 1,400 prisoners in exchange. Israel has made it clear Shalit's release is essential for peace talks. It says the Palestinians also need to have a government in place that is ready to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past peace accords. Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's destruction, won elections in January and has rejected Western demands to accept those conditions. (Additional reporting by Reuters bureaux in Jerusalem, Gaza, Amman and Cairo)
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
