OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 16 March — A US envoy reported yesterday an “extremely positive” start to his peace mission here aimed at halting nearly 18 months of spiraling bloodshed and Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians.
Anthony Zinni made his remarks after a round of talks with both sides and an apparent conciliatory move by Israel, which bowed to US pressure and started pulling its forces back from towns they had occupied in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
US President George W. Bush said he was “very pleased” by Israel’s pullout and told reporters at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, that “we’re hopeful he (Zinni) will have an impact on setting the conditions for peace.” Zinni, a retired Marine general, flew in on Thursday and immediately went into talks with the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He met with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat later yesterday.
“All of the meetings were extremely positive,” the American diplomat told reporters after conferring with Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah. “Everyone is committed to get out of this situation.”
Amid rekindled hopes for a cease-fire, a relative calm settled over the region with only scattered incidents of violence. But a woman and four children were killed when their donkey cart struck an Israeli mine in Gaza.
Zinni, making his third mission for Bush, received an encouraging welcome for his bid to broker a cease-fire in the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, that has claimed more than 1,500 lives. The Israelis marked his arrival by announcing the withdrawal of their forces from the towns of Ramallah, Qalqilya, Tulkarem and Bethlehem in the West Bank, and from the Al-Boureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
Army officials said they were still encircling the areas they had seized in their biggest military offensive in Palestinian territory since the 1967 Middle East war. But they were ready to pull back completely if conditions were right.
A majority of Israelis are no longer satisfied with the performance of Sharon — and agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state, says a poll published yesterday. Overall support for the premier has slipped to 35 percent, down from 42 percent in the previous poll, the Market Watch poll in the Maariv daily reported.
In January, support for Sharon was still 62 percent and in late February it was 54 percent. Two-thirds (67 percent) were displeased with Sharon’s performance in the field of security. Some 63 percent said they would support a cease-fire and a peace agreement with the Palestinians which included the establishment of a Palestinian state, nearly double the 33 percent who said they opposed such a notion.
