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"A
misunderstanding is developing with the Americans on this
fence,” Shalom
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WASHINGTON,
July 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As Palestinian Prime
Minister Mahmud Abbas began his first landmark trip to Washington for
talks with President George W. Bush on Thursday, July 24, Israel said a
"misunderstanding" is developing with the U.S. administration
over the construction of the so-called "separation fence".
"A
misunderstanding is developing with the Americans on this fence
because of ignorance of the specifics of this project," Israeli
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said from Washington, where he met
Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The
meeting was designed to prepare the July 29 talks between Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Bush, Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The
Palestinians have launched an extensive opinion campaign against this
fence to make believe it will harm their interests, create facts on
the ground and will risk torpedoing the peace process," Shalom
told military radio.
On
his part, Powell said: "My colleague is aware of the concerns
that we have about the fence" and it needs to be asked if
"it (the fence) helps the process as we move forward"
towards peace with the Palestinians.
In
his talks Wednesday with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice,
Shalom was told that the U.S. wants Israel to halt construction of the
fence and alter its route, Israel Radio reported.
"Problematic"
Rice
also told Shalom that Israel had to display greater flexibility on the
release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and had to remove more illegal
West Bank settlement outposts, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
During
a visit to the region in June 2003, Rice admitted the fence was
"problematic" because it would "create a fait
accompli" but Sharon had denied the fence was politically
motivated.
According
to the New York Times, Washington will exert pressure on Israel
to halt the project or at least change its route.
The
fence loosely follows the 1967 Green Line division between Israel and
the West Bank, but it dips deep into occupied Palestinian territory at
several points under the pretext of protecting settlements.
It
also leaves several Palestinian villages cut off from the rest of the
West Bank.
The
Palestinians accuse Israel of using the fence to unilaterally
determine the borders of a future Palestinian state and of wanting to
"ethnically cleanse" the West Bank with a de facto
annexation of its most fertile regions.
Construction
of the fence was launched in June 2002. It is also expected to cut
annexed the east of occupied Jerusalem off from the rest of the West
Bank and a first 145-kilometre (90-mile) section is due for completion
in July 2003.
Abbas’
First Trip
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“My
colleague is aware of the concerns that we have about the
fence," Powell
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In
the meanwhile, the Palestinian premier will try during his talks in
Washington to win support for a broad Israeli release of the
6,000-estimated detainees.
The
issue was likely to be a main topic at talks between Abbas and Bush at
the White House on Friday, with the Israelis and Palestinians still
poles apart over the numbers that should be freed.
Israel
agreed only to the release
of 350 detainees with the exclusion of Hamas and Islamic Jihad
members, the stance which irked Palestinians hoping to see all
detainees no longer behind bars.
Palestinian
Prisoners affairs minister Hisham Abdelrazeq said Abbas would urge
Washington to persuade Israel to first agree in principle to the
release of all the Palestinian detainees before then drawing up a
schedule for their release.
"If
America succeeds, there will be progress in the peace process but if
they do not, the political process could be destroyed,"
Abdelrazeq said.
He
was speaking ahead of a rally in Gaza City where about 500 members of
Palestinian resistance factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as
well as Abbas's Fatah, called for the release of all of their members
held in Israeli jails.
They
gathered in front of the United Nations headquarters in Gaza where
they demanded the immediate release of all prisoners without
preconditions.
An
Israeli ministerial commission Wednesday ruled out the immediate
release of any members of the movements, although it did rubberstamp
earlier proposals to release several hundred so-called administrative
detainees.
"Freedom
For All Prisoners"
Some
demonstrators carried banners with slogans such as: "Freedom for
all prisoners" and "No conditions on releases", while
others burnt an Israeli flag.
Palestinian
officials said the political leadership of Abbas rests on winning
support in Washington talks for an Israeli release of all detainees.
He
could face a confidence vote in parliament on his return if he fails
during meeting with Bush to win increased pressure on Israel to make
the release, the officials were quoted by Reuters as saying.
In
another blow to the roadmap, which calls for a freeze on all Jewish
settlement activity, Israeli Interior Ministry figures released
Thursday showed the number of settlers living in the West Bank and
Gaza has risen by 5,400 in the past year to a record 231,443.
A
fatal shooting by an Israeli border guard of a Bedouin in southern
Israel on Thursday also inflamed sentiment on the ground.
Following
the incident, dozens of Bedouins gathered near the scene of the
incident in the Negev desert to protest, accusing Israeli policemen of
being "trigger-happy" when it comes to Israeli Arabs.
On
Tuesday, Israeli policemen killed another Israeli Arab near the West
Bank after "mistaking" him for a Palestinian activist
preparing an attack.
"According
to preliminary findings, the driver refused to stop at a roadblock and
was killed by a bullet which a border guard fired," police
spokesman Gil Kleiman said.
