WASHINGTON,
April 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The United States
Monday, April 21, heaped pressure on the Palestinians to end their
bickering and quickly install a new government under Prime
Minister-designate Mahmud Abbas or risk missing a critical chance for
peace.
In
unusually blunt language, Washington said confirmation of Abbas and
his government before a Wednesday deadline was key to the reforms
President George W. Bush has demanded in exchange for U.S. support for
a Palestinian state, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
And
though the State Department did not explicitly say it, spokesman
Richard Boucher hinted strongly that the release of the so-called
"roadmap" for Middle East peace - which Bush has tied to
Abbas's confirmation - would be affected if the deadline was missed.
"It's
essential that the Palestinians complete this process of establishing
a government urgently," Boucher said, indicating that Washington
firmly backed Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, as Premier and his
cabinet selections.
"Our
view is that the formation of a strong and empowered Palestinian
cabinet headed by Abu Mazen and committed to serious efforts on
reforms and security is deeply in the interest of the Palestinian
people," he said.
"The
Palestinians can't afford to miss this opportunity," Boucher
added, playing on a phrase made famous by late Israeli Foreign
Minister Abba Eban who once said "the Palestinians never miss an
opportunity to miss an opportunity."
Boucher
said Washington had conveyed the message directly to Palestinian
officials as well as to others who are or will soon be in contact with
them.
Secretary
of State Colin Powell raised the matter in weekend conversations with
his Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio, who is now traveling in the
Middle East, and with the Foreign Ministers of Israel, Greece and
Russia as well as top EU diplomat Javier Solana, he said.
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Abu
Mazen is strongly backed by Washington and Tel Aviv
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"We
are hopeful that Abu Mazen will choose and then the Palestinian
legislative council will confirm a cabinet that is capable of taking
the steps on Palestinian reforms and taking clear and sustained action
against violence and terrorist attacks," Boucher said.
He
spoke as the deadline for Abu Mazen's confirmation loomed with the
Prime Minister-designate and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat still at
odds over the composition of the cabinet.
Abbas,
the Palestine Liberation Organization second-in-command, stormed out
of talks with Arafat late Saturday amid threats to quit, and is
refusing to back down on his insistence on appointing Gaza strongman
Colonel Mohammad Dahlan as head of internal security.
Arafat,
who fell out with Dahlan before he quit last year, believes his
appointment would wrest control of the key internal security forces, a
power he is keen to hold on to.
Hopes
for a resolution were teetering, with both Abbas and Arafat apparently
determined to go down to the wire as mediators desperately tried to
reconcile the two men who together founded the mainstream Fatah
faction in the late 1950s.
Abbas
has called for a suspension of anti-Israeli attacks, as set out in the
first stage of the roadmap and Dahlan is seen as one of the few
capable of imposing a ceasefire on powerful resistance groups.
Israeli
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz called for international pressure to be
piled on Arafat, who has held several telephone conversations in
recent weeks with Arab leaders, in particular with Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak.
The
roadmap - drawn up by the United States, the United Nations, the
European Union and Russia, the international diplomatic
"quartet" on the Middle East - is a phased plan that calls
for steps to be taken to create a Palestinian state alongside a secure
Israel by 2005.
