WASHINGTON, 15 November — Only a few days after President Bush told the United Nations that he wanted to see a “viable Palestinian state,” State Department officials announced Tuesday that Secretary of State Colin Powell plans to deliver a major address on the Middle East.
His speech is expected to outline the Bush administration’s strategy on Mideast peace talks, and US support for a Palestinian state. Powell may also urge Israel to accept US observers to help ease tensions on the West Bank and Gaza borders.
Yasser Abed Rabbo and Yossi Beilin, the negotiators at Taba and Camp David peace talks, said Tuesday that peace is feasible. “Even though to say today that peace is possible sounds as though one is detached from reality,” said Beilin. “We are the negotiators and we say it is possible, we already discussed all the thorny issues — including settlements, Jerusalem and the status of the refugees.”
Speaking at a forum organized the by the Brookings Institution, both men called for US intervention to jumpstart the talks.
“There is a chance for peace,” said Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo. “But there’s a need to unite our will. We cannot do it without the serious intervention of the US administration — we need their direct involvement to implement all these documents that carry American names — Mitchell, Tenet — and the President Bush’s statement regarding Palestinian statehood.”
It is believed that Powell’s speech will reiterate the administration’s support for recommendations made earlier this year by a commission headed by former Sen. George Mitchell.
Powell’s speech will be made next Monday at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. State Department special envoy and retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns will then leave for the Middle East.
The administration’s diplomatic imitative is aimed at reviving a US effort that was first put into place before Sept. 11, to ease Mideast violence and address moderate Arab countries that feel the US has distanced itself from the conflict.
“Neglecting the Middle East not only creates a situation that makes all of us suffer, but there is also a price to pay as all the Bin Laden’s in the world will use us as their reason for their lunacy,” said Israel’s peace negotiator, Yossi Beilin.
Both negotiators made clear that they are calling for US mediation, not US intervention.
“We don’t want the US to come and impose a solution on us,” said Beilin. “Past experience shows that what we need is for the US to supervise and monitor the understandings we both agreed on, starting with the Tenet and Mitchell recommendations.“These ideas were agreed to by both of our parties,” said Beilin. “But no one takes (the fact that we signed and were committed to) them seriously.”
Abed Rabbo reiterated the need for US monitors on the ground, which Israel’s government, led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has soundly rejected. “There is a need for a process of US involvement,” added Abed Rabbo. “We don’t need hundreds of Americans, but we need monitors to make sure that the commitments are not violated.”
