JERUSALEM, 21 December 2004 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ruled out yesterday any Israeli participation in a Middle East conference expected to take place in London early in 2005.

“We will not participate, but we understand its (the conference’s) importance,” Sharon told visiting Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, according to an official statement.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is widely reported to be planning a major international conference in London early next year to push the moribund peace process forward.

The conference should offer an “important opportunity to solve the (Palestinian) economic problems and to advance reforms” of the Palestinian Authority, Sharon said.

His office had already made Israel’s position clear, but Sharon’s comments were the first time the prime minister himself had mentioned it.

“We are in favor of a conference to help the Palestinians, but we are not attending because we don’t see it as a peace conference,” a source close to Sharon told AFP.

Reports from London earlier this month said that Britain had obtained agreement from the United States to hold the conference, at the foreign ministers’ level, in late January or early February.

Dov Weisglass, a senior advisor to Sharon and his former chief of staff, said at a conference near Tel Aviv last Thursday that the conference was of major importance.

“The meeting in London, which is an initiative of the British prime minister, which should take place in February, is without doubt the most significant development in the near future,” he said.

“This meeting will bring together the Palestinians, certain European countries and American officials.”

Weisglass said the conference would be “devoted entirely to ways of helping the Palestinians as they enter a new era” after the Nov. 11 death of veteran leader Yasser Arafat. Blair is expected to hold talks in the region from today.

He was scheduled to meet in Israel with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, and in the West Bank with Palestine Liberation Organization chief Mahmud Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei.

Palestinians Welcome Blair Involvement in Peace Process

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath yesterday welcomed Blair’s deepening involvement in the Middle East peace process as a way of pressuring Washington to step up its role.

“I have seen real interest on the side of Mr. Blair to resume the peace process,” Shaath told AFP.

“I have seen Mr. Blair has gone to Washington on several occasions to get the White House really active in the peace process. Because of this manifest interest I feel that Britain can play a positive part” in the peace process.

Shaath and other members of the Palestinian leadership are expected to meet with the British premier in Ramallah tomorrow.

Blair has made a resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict a personal priority, arguing that a settlement can help bring peace to the wider Middle East.

Shaath welcomed the idea of a conference but said that “we need to see more about the shape of that conference.”

The foreign minister was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on international involvement in the Middle East peace process where he took a swipe at what he called US bias towards Israel.

“It’s like a football game when a referee only gives a penalty for the fouls of one side,” he said.