JERUSALEM, 15 November 2004 — With the Palestinian territories in official mourning for Yasser Arafat, there were tentative signs over the weekend that Israel and the international community were ready to revive the moribund Middle East peace process following the death of the Palestinian leader.
Egypt called Saturday for a new Middle East peace push by the main world powers alongside a planned Iraq conference it is hosting later this month.
“Egypt supports the holding of a meeting of the quartet backing the road map between Palestinians and Israelis, on the sidelines of the international conference on Iraq at Sharm El-Sheikh from Nov. 22 to 23,” Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told journalists in Cairo.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Saturday he hoped to meet Palestinian leaders soon as part of a harder US push for peace in the region.
Powell will travel to Egypt for a Nov. 22-23 conference and could meet there with the current and former Palestinian prime ministers, Ahmed Qorei and Mahmoud Abbas, respectively, or visit them in the Palestinian territories, a State Department official said.
Sending his top diplomat to meet Arafat’s moderate successors would add substance to US President George W. Bush’s pledge to use the prestige of the United States to help create a Palestinian state during his second four-year term.
“We know these gentlemen well, and I hope to be able to see them in the very near future to discuss what their plans are and how to move forward,” Powell said in an interview with NBC.
Powell, who is also expected to host Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Washington, said the United States wanted the Jewish state to allow Palestinians in the occupied territories to move freely to vote for Arafat’s successor.
Abul Gheit said he had asked US Secretary of State Colin Powell to “make contact with parties concerned by the Palestinian question to persuade them of the necessity of making all efforts necessary to facilitate the holding of Palestinian elections” set for January.
