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| Erakat:
The summit is a “trick to find a way to ... carry on the
occupation”
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, April 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Egyptian
Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher refused Monday, April 15, the idea of the
Israeli suggested regional Arab peace summit saying that “the
Israeli suggestion brings the Middle East peace process to the zero
point.”
Palestinian
negotiator Saeb Erakat scoffed at the idea late Sunday, April 14. He
accused Sharon of using "this trick to find a way to ... carry on
the occupation."
Erekat
had earlier said the idea was a "waste of time" and no
substitute for a peace plan floated by the Saudis and backed by last
month's Arab summit.
"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.
Lebanese
President Emile Lahoud charged earlier Tuesday, April 9, that Sharon's
speech to parliament was a "maneuver aiming to deceive the
international community" prior to the arrival of U.S. Secretary
of State Colin Powell in the region.
It
is a “formal and hypocritical maneuver aiming to deceive the
international community prior to the tour of the American Secretary of
State", said Lahoud in a declaration to the press.
Lahoud
saw this as "proof of Israel's bad intentions, that it does not
want peace but wants to impose security through the use of
force."
"These
Israeli statements deceive nobody, especially at this moment when
Israel is pursuing its policies of assassination, destruction and
genocide against the Palestinian people in an offensive launched the
day after the adoption of the Arab peace initiative", said the
Lebanese leader, who headed the Arab summit held in Beirut from March
27-28.
However,
the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, has said he was prepared to
accept the Israeli proposal for a regional peace conference if the
United States supported the idea, under the condition that the summit
be accompanied by an immediate withdrawal of Israeli occupation troops
from the West Bank.
"Any
initiative which would be declared by President Bush I will accept it
to achieve peace ...," Arafat said in a telephone interview with
Fox News.
"I
am ready for an immediate conference, but at the same time immediate
withdrawal. No one can accept occupation."
In
his speech, Sharon declared himself ready to meet with
"moderate" Arab leaders.
In
another reaction, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique, whose nation
holds the rotating E.U. presidency said Monday, regretted that Sharon
failed to mention the European Union - which has been striving for a
bigger role in Middle East diplomacy - when he raised the possibility
of a peace conference.
"If
Mr. Sharon only wants to talk with those who agree with him, he'll
soon find himself without interlocutors," he said.
Israeli
public radio declared Monday, April 15, quoting Israeli senior
officials that the suggested summit on the Middle East crisis may take
place in the United States within six weeks.
"Sharon
proposed Sunday night in Tel Aviv to Secretary of State Colin Powell
organizing an international conference for a peace settlement in the
Middle East," Raanan Gissin said.
"This
conference would be held under the aegis of the United States, should
be held at a neutral venue and gather representatives from Israel, the
Palestinians, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Gulf
states," he added.
"The
Saudi peace plan could be examined and Israel would thus make its
position known directly and without any pre-conditions," he
added.
It
was not clear Monday if Sharon would agree to Arafat’s
participation, whom he considers a supporter of terrorism and has
confined in his West Bank headquarters.
