The London conference might have sent the Palestinians a message of hope but not necessarily assurance. Dina Ezzat reports from the British capital "There is some light but we should not overstate it," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the end of what was called the London Meeting on the Assistance of the Palestinian Authority that convened on Tuesday for one day at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. Blair described what transpired at the gathering as a coherent plan specifying in great detail Palestinian commitments to political reform and good governance, security and economic development. These were the clearest results of the international meeting that was hosted by the British government and that brought together ministerial and other high-level representation from the Quartet, Palestine, the Arab League, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Conference resolutions underlined the commitment of the Palestinian Authority to exert maximum effort to upgrade its security performance, take further action to combat corruption and pursue economic development with the assistance of the international community which pledged to provide financial support and offer some guidelines. The resolutions also referred to the right of Palestinians to have a viable and contiguous Palestinian state. In return, the international community pledged to take the necessary action to address short-term reform priorities as identified by the Palestinian Authority and the World Bank, including budget support, pension and social assistance schemes, and support preparations for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. But the resolutions offered no specific aid budget with a defined delivery timetable. "This is not a pledging conference," British officials from Blair on down repeated. The end results also did not offer clear commitments on the part of the international community to secure an Israeli pledge to start final status negotiations. "We are still not there yet," Blair told the concluding press conference. Moreover, neither the conclusions of the London meeting nor the statement issued by the Quartet following their meeting in London on Tuesday afternoon offered any timetable -- not even tentatively -- as to when a Palestinian state would see the light of day, or when or where an international peace conference that the roadmap prescribes to would be held. At a press conference, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier spoke briefly of the need to hold such a conference by mid-year but Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit pointed out "there was not even a tentative date for the conference." For their part, the Palestinians said they were content -- at least for now -- at seeing the international community coming together even without Israel which did not participate in the event, and speak as one about supporting Palestinian efforts to establish a viable state of their own. The Palestinians say it was good for them to have their president, Mahmoud Abbas, meet high-ranking officials from major world capitals and organisations and place on the table a list of requests -- and nod their heads in approval. "This was a very positive meeting and an excellent opportunity for the Palestinians to present their demands and for the international community to communicate an understanding of these demands," Abbas said. Indeed, Palestinian diplomatic sources say it was important for Abbas to stand alongside the British prime minister and before an international audience that included US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, call for "an end to the occupation that began in 1967", and to speak of the "reciprocity" of security concerns on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides "because the Palestinians too want their security" as well as to blame the violations of the "cease-fire" reached in Sharm El-Sheikh last month "on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides". This was an important message for Abbas to send back home along with the statements of condemnation he made following Friday's attack on a Tel Aviv nightclub that killed five Israelis. Palestinian and other Arab diplomats in London said it was good for the Palestinians and Israelis alike to hear Rice say that Israel must also do its part. "Israel must take no actions that prejudice a final settlement, and must help ensure that a new Palestinian state is truly viable. A state of scattered territories will not work," she said. Palestinians and other Arab delegates to the London meeting believe the conference probably sent more messages to the Israelis than Palestinians. Indeed, Rice promised a prompt execution of the mission of the US-assigned Security Coordinator General William Ward who participated in the London meeting. The message sent to the Palestinians was that the international community is not abandoning them but is in fact becoming more sympathetic thanks to the commitment shown by their new president to restrain resistance movements. The message sent to Israel was that it will eventually have to bow to some Palestinian demands. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa argued that one message above all should be delivered: time has run out for half-way solutions. (see p.10)
