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U.S. Reluctantly Pushes To End Mideast Impasse
JERUSALEM, May 22 (News Agencies) - U.S. diplomatic moves to push for a Middle East ceasefire after the release of the Mitchell report into the deadly spiral of bloodletting began slowly Tuesday, as Israel and the Palestinians bickered over its implementation.
The long-awaited report, unveiled by former U.S. senator George Mitchell on Monday and welcomed by world leaders, calls for an immediate halt to fighting and confidence-building measures, including a halt to Israeli settlement activity.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would make a statement on the Mitchell report and other issues at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT), his office said.
Late Monday, Sharon had talks on Washington's efforts to halt the violence with U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, who was also expected to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, although that was not confirmed.
Sporadic violence erupted, with the Israeli army reporting four mortar bombs fired on Israeli territory near the Gaza Strip and on a Jewish settlement, while clashes erupted in the West Bank town of Hebron, although no injuries were reported.
Israeli troops later mounted five armed incursions into Palestinian-ruled land in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security officials said, in violation of autonomy accords.
A member of Arafat's Force 17 guard died of injuries sustained in a West Bank gunfight Friday, bringing to 562 the number of people killed since late September, the vast majority of them Palestinians.
Sharon met Indyk and U.S. Consul General Ron Schlicher for two hours following the release of the report by the international panel set up at a summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh seven months ago.
"They discussed the framework and timetable for the implementation of the Mitchell commission report," a U.S. embassy official said.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who spoke with both Arafat and Sharon after the report's release, announced that the ambassador to Jordan, William Burns, would be his "special assistant" to the Middle East.
He also endorsed the Mitchell report, which calls for an immediate end to the violence, a halt to Jewish settlements - one of the root causes of the Palestinian uprising - and stronger Palestinian action against "terrorism".
But reflecting the hands-off approach of the administration of President George W. Bush, Powell ruled out at least for now any direct negotiations with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Bush on Tuesday discussed Middle East violence with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdallah, who both gave a "very positive" welcome to newly named special U.S. envoy to the region, William Burns, a senior U.S. official said.
The United States will push ahead with efforts to restart the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, but it is not yet time for Bush to call a summit at the White House, said the official, who requested anonymity.
"I think that there is an appropriate time for a president to use the prestige of the office of the presidency. Now is not the appropriate time ... to be holding meetings," the official told reporters.
"The attitude was very positive about the Burns initiative," the official said of Bush's talks with Mubarak and King Abdallah, which also covered the Mitchell report on Israel-Palestinian violence.
"Hopefully the Burns initiative, combined with the Mitchell report, will get the mindset such that we can implement the [peace] framework. But remember, the first step in the Mitchell report is end the violence," said the official.
Israelis and Palestinians, meanwhile, argued over which should come first, a halt to the violence or a freeze on settlement activity, which the Palestinians consider illegal under international law.
Israeli minister without portfolio Danny Naveh said the freeze should only be included among confidence-building measures after an end to the violence.
"The test period in which we will verify the determination of the Palestinians to end the violence must be significant," he told army radio.
A recent opinion poll among Israelis found that more than 60% backed a halt to settlement building in exchange for a halt to violence. Some 200,000 Jews live in settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
However, the Palestinian official responsible for Jerusalem, Faisal Husseini, insisted that a freeze on settlements was a precondition, saying: "It is only after such a freeze that we can work towards calming things down on the ground."
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, on a regional tour, described the report as a "roadmap" for peace but said the primary responsibility for ending the bloodshed lies with Israel and the Palestinians.
"It is impossible to have confidence-building measures if they are fighting each other, so this stopping of violence is a precondition for measures to construct confidence among the parties," he told reporters here.
"The Mitchell report does not produce miracles," he said.
Arafat, who is due to meet French President Jacques Chirac in Paris Wednesday, put the onus on Israel to re-deploy its forces, end the blockade of the Gaza Strip and West Bank and resume all aspects of peace talks in line with previous agreements.
"We have to stop all the violence, everywhere, and to remove the closure and the tanks and the siege and to start directly the other discussions of all the details of the peace process," he said.
Palestinian presidential secretary Tayeb Abdel Rahim reiterated Arafat's call for an urgent summit grouping those at the October meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh - including Israel, the Palestinians, the United States, Jordan and Egypt - to discuss the Mitchell report recommendations.
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