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U.S. Peace Envoys Leave Mideast, Ends "Mission Impossible"
CAIRO, Dec. 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.S. envoy to the Middle East, retired Marine General Anthony C. Zinni, has ended his unsuccessful three-week diplomatic mission to the Middle East, and it appears unlikely he will return to the region in the near future.
In addition, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs William Burns also cancelled his tour to Israel and also flew back to Washington.
Zinni failed to broker a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. As he departed for Washington for consultations with officials in President George W. Bush's
administration, Israeli forces continued their largest military campaign against Palestinian areas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the signing of the Oslo peace accords in 1993.
Zinni ended his mission after he met Saturday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher in Cairo.
"President Mubarak affirmed the importance of putting a stop to Israel's attacks against the Palestinian people and the Palestinian leadership in order to achieve calm, which would allow a return to negotiations," said Maher.
He added that Egypt supported all efforts to "escape from the current cycle of violence for the benefit of a just peace, security and stability."
The Egyptian foreign minister did not mention whether Egypt raised the issue of Washington's decision to use its veto power to kill a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate halt to Middle East violence and saying the Palestinian Authority was essential to any peace process.
Maher said earlier on Saturday his country regretted the U.S. veto. He said Egypt hoped the move meant Washington would exert genuine efforts outside the Security Council to stop Israel's violence against the Palestinians.
On Friday, Zinni held talks in Amman with Jordan's King Abdullah II. Following the meeting, the king stated that Washington's role was vital to ensure stability in the region. Mubarak and the Jordanian monarch also held discussions with Burns.
King Abdullah urged Zinni not to give up on efforts to broker a lasting Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire to avert wider conflict, Jordanian officials said.
They said the monarch warned both Zinni and Burns it was crucial that Washington did not abandon its re-engagement in the Middle East crisis or follow its Israeli allies in cutting ties with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.
Israel, outraged by a succession of attacks by Palestinian resistance groups on Israelis, decided on Wednesday to cut ties with Arafat on the grounds that he was no longer "relevant".
Bush demanded on Friday that Arafat crackdown on resistance activists, saying they were making it "very difficult" for Washington's envoy in the region to broker a ceasefire.
"The world expects Arafat to lead, and so do I," Bush told reporters at the White House. "If you want there to be a peace, you must do everything in your power, you must use your security forces, to bring to justice those who murder to keep peace from happening," Bush added.
The Israeli daily newspaper, Ha'aretz, reported that Zinni was heading to Washington for consultations over the Christmas holidays and it added that it was unclear whether or when Zinni would come back to the region. Zinni reportedly decided there was no point in continuing his attempts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians after a Thursday night meeting with Israel's hardline prime minister, Ariel Sharon.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Friday that Zinni was sent to the region to try to achieve a ceasefire, and that "he was not sent to the region forever."
The U.S. administration assesses that the odds of reaching a ceasefire are steadily diminishing and thus it must reconsider its most recent Middle East initiative.
Zinni and Burns commented Washington remained committed to achieving peace in the Middle East and that the U.S. administration will continue to deal with Arafat as the representative of the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, the 22-member Arab League said Saturday that the Palestinians had asked for an emergency meeting of foreign ministers on December 20 to discuss the escalating violence.
A diplomatic source at Egypt's foreign ministry, quoted by the official Middle East News Agency, said Egypt backed the idea of holding a meeting on Thursday.
Egypt became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. Jordan followed suit in 1994. Both states have sought to serve as mediators and facilitators in regional peace efforts.
At least 780 Palestinians and 233 Israelis have been killed since Israeli-Palestinian clashes flared anew in September of last year after U.S.-mediated peace efforts collapsed.
In addition, in Palestine, websites managed by the Palestinian Authority and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were reportedly out of service for several hours on Saturday.
According to Israel Radio, the Authority's primary website, and its media department site, were both inoperable. Israel attacked the Authority's broadcasting station on Thursday, knocking it out of commission.
Palestinian websites running on European and American servers were still operating normally.
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