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U.S. Praises Saudi Peace Efforts, Remains Firm On Arafat's Responsibility
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| The U.S. says Saudi plan an "important step" |
With
additional reporting by Ayesha Ahmad
IOL
Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON,
Feb. 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.S. expressed praise for a
Middle East peace initiative presented by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul
Aziz, but stressed that its position on the responsibility of Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat to stop the violence first has not changed.
"The
focus needs to be on ways to reduce the violence," State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday, emphasizing Washington's continued call
for Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to "undertake maximum effort"
to control the violence. "We haven't changed our position on that."
Boucher
said, however, that the U.S. welcomed the Saudi proposal, noting that "some
of these issues remained subject to negotiation," he said.
Under
the proposal, Arab states would normalize ties with Israel in exchange for a
full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab lands to borders delineated in 1967.
"We think that it's a significant positive step that an Arab state would
put forward [a plan for] normalization with Israel," Boucher said.
He
also said, however, that to get to the point where the proposal could be taken
up, the so-called Mitchell and Tenet plans needed to be implemented and a
comprehensive peace agreement achieved between the two parties. Boucher defined
the "comprehensive peace agreement" as one that would include all
tension issues, such as borders, security and refugees.
Boucher's
statements echoed remarks made by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer the day
before, who said that the Mitchell plan - devised last year by former senator
George Mitchell - "is the path, the president believes," to get to a
comprehensive peace agreement.
The
White House on Monday said that U.S. President George W. Bush praised the Saudi
plan. "The president
praised the crown prince's ideas regarding full Arab-Israeli normalization once
a comprehensive peace agreement has been achieved," Fleischer told
reporters. Bush also "conveyed the United States' desire to work closely
with the King and Saudi Arabia in the pursuit of Middle East peace, and both
leaders reiterated their commitment to the importance" of U.S.-Saudi ties,
he added.
Also
on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed the Saudi proposal as
an "important step," but said Washington needs further details before
taking a definite position, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
However,
"the announcement by Saudi Arabia underscores the willingness of Saudi
Arabia to reach out to Israel and that, the president finds, is
encouraging," Fleischer told reporters.
This
cautious approval was echoed at the State Department, with Boucher saying Monday
that "the Saudi idea" was significant and positive, and was an
important part of the Secretary's discussions with other leaders.
However, Boucher also stressed Monday that the U.S. was still placing an
immediate end to the violence as the first priority.
"It's
useful to have these ideas out there; it's significant that they were
proposed," he said, referring to the Saudi plan. "But what really
needs to happen now to get anywhere towards that discussion is now we need to
stop the violence, now we need to move down through the Mitchell and Tenet
steps, in order to get to the point where some of these things can be
discussed."
Washington
has been pressuring Arafat - especially since the "Karine A" affair,
in which a boatload of arms was intercepted by Israel and blamed on Palestinian
Authority officials - to exercise his authority and end Palestinian attacks on
Israelis.
Its
direct criticism of Arafat contrasts with silence on specific Israeli military
actions stemming from its policy of regarding Israel as always retaliating
rather than initiating violence, according to a State Department official, but
the U.S. says it maintains its position that violence on both sides is an
obstacle to peace.
"We
still have to stop the violence and rebuild some sense of trust" in order
to move forward, a senior State Department official said Tuesday.
"Israelis
and Palestinians need to have a sense of hope that [the peace process] is going
somewhere," the official added, expressing sorrow at the latest Israeli
violence that wounded two Palestinian mothers who were in labor and killed one
of the fathers of the infants who were born soon after.
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