DAMASCUS/GAZA, 21 November 2002 — Arab foreign ministers kicked off talks in Damascus last night concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the US confrontation with Iraq. Arab League chief Amr Moussa and 11 foreign ministers were set to discuss a US-backed road map for peace that looks to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel by 2005, a League official told reporters.
The plan, drafted by the diplomatic quartet of the United States, Russia, European Union and the United Nations, has been accepted in principle by the Palestinians, Egypt and Jordan.
Israel also backed the plan, although its newly appointed Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since said it is "not on the agenda" for the narrow extreme right-wing caretaker government that will hold power until early elections in late January.
The road map was discussed with Arab states by US envoy William Burns during a regional tour last month. The two-day meeting gathers the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian Authority, who make up with Moussa a follow-up committee for an Arab peace initiative.
Tunisian Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia and Libya’s Minister for African Unity Ali Abdel Salam Triki were also attending the meeting. Meanwhile, Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud, whose country chairs the rotating presidency of the Arab League, said Tuesday the meeting had "an exceptional character" because it would examine ways "to delay" a US-strike on Iraq.
Meanwhile, after 20 months of cooperating with the Israeli right, Labour elected the dovish Amram Mitzna to lead the party into January elections, offering a quick return to peace talks with the Palestinians. But the violence continued, with Israeli troops killing six Palestinians in West Bank raids and another dying in a mystery blast that destroyed his house.
Even as the Haifa mayor celebrated his meteoric rise to the top, analysts warned of an uphill struggle for him to reunite his party, dispirited after sitting in the government of Sharon for nearly two years. Mitzna won 53.9 percent of votes cast against 38.17 percent for hawkish former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer and 7.24 percent for MP Haim Ramon.
Mitzna has pulled off a spectacular rise to the top of his ailing party, while establishing himself as the leader of Labour’s doves. Mitzna was elected on a pledge to close Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, rein in settlements in the West Bank and unilaterally separate from the Palestinians if peace talks yield no results.
The Palestinian Authority officials said yesterday the election of Mitzna revived hopes peace moves will be restarted. "If Mitzna continues his victory to the prime ministry, a very important breakthrough will take place. His program revives hopes for resuming a meaningful peace process," Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qorei told reporters.
