U.S. Will Host New Mideast Peace Talks
The Bush administration said Monday it would host a conference of U.S., U.N., Russian and European officials next month with the aim of developing a roadmap for Mideast peacemaking.
But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said progress toward establishing a Palestinian state in 2005 is impossible while suicide bombers are active. Last week, Palestinian bombers attacked an Israeli bus and a patrol boat.
The bus bombing in Jerusalem, which killed 11 Israeli civilians and wounded more than 40 others, was "particularly bad," Boucher said as he affirmed the Bush administration was solidly behind Israel's right to combat terror.
At the same time, Boucher registered concern that Israel's response was claiming civilian casualties, including British U.N. official Iain Hook, who was shot by Israeli troops last Friday in the West Bank town of Jenin.
With all the violence, the administration decided to go ahead with a meeting of the so-called Quartet in Washington on Dec. 20.
The arrangement gives the United Nations, the European Union and Russia joint roles with the United States in trying to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Besides working on details of a pathway to Palestinian statehood, the conference is expected to consider ways of promoting reform within the Palestinian leadership.
Secretary of State Colin Powell will host the meeting, with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller and Javier Solana of the European Union expected to attend.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent a deputy, Natan Sharansky, to Washington earlier this month to tell Vice President Dick Cheney and Powell that peacemaking should be deferred until the Palestinian Authority moves toward reform.
At a minimum, Sharansky said, peace efforts should be put on hold until Israel and the Palestinians hold elections in January.
But Powell decided to proceed anyway. He has held to the position that peacemaking cannot be set aside while terror is rampant — a view shared by a number of European and Arab governments.
The Arabs hope Israeli voters will remove Sharon and install Amram Mitzna, the Labor party leader, as prime minister.
On Monday, the former general said he would "disengage" Israel from the West Bank and Gaza with a security border.
The Palestinians want to take over the territory for a state, and establish a capital in East Jerusalem.
President Bush has endorsed statehood for the Palestinians but has insisted on an end to corruption and ties to terror in the Palestinian Authority as conditions. He also has called for new leadership to replace Yasser Arafat.