The Bush administration is holding intensive negotiations behind the scenes to renew implementation of the road map ahead of upcoming presidential elections, Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington Israeli diplomats in Washington are reportedly not happy that US administration officials have been repeatedly delaying a requested visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the US capital, aimed at seeking endorsement for his unilateral plan of disengagement between Israel and the Palestinians. Despite the strong alliance between President George W Bush and the Israeli premier, whom he once described as a "man of peace", the present administration has reportedly told members of Sharon's government that it was not ready to get involved in another failed initiative to revive Palestinian-Israeli talks, particularly ahead of upcoming US presidential elections in November. In an interview early this week on the newly launched American Arabic- language satellite channel, Al-Hurra, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that no date has been scheduled for Sharon's visit. According to one informed US official, Sharon has been seeking a meeting with the US president since early February, but administration members said they wanted to conduct proper consultations ahead of the visit, and to work on concrete proposals to revive the implementation of the road map -- the US-sponsored plan to reach a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. The White House, seeking to defy Democratic critics that Bush abandoned the Middle East peace process, would appreciate whatever minimal success might be achieved on this track. After an initial reserved reaction, the Bush administration started dealing more positively with Sharon's latest proposal to abandon all, or most, illegal Israel settlements in the overpopulated Palestinian Gaza Strip. Officials said they believed that whatever minimum progress could be achieved amidst an extremely volatile situation in occupied Palestinian territories might be a good start to revive the implementation of the stalled road map. Meanwhile, Bush administration officials, both at the White House and the State Department, have been keen in affirming that accepting to deal with Sharon's proposals did not mean disregarding the road map -- co-sponsored by the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- and its final goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state by 2005. Informed US sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that in several recent meetings between Israeli and American officials, the United States demanded withdrawal from several West Bank settlements, besides withdrawal from Gaza. Such a step is key to calm Palestinian and Arab fears that Sharon is simply seeking to turn an "interim" position into a long-term solution, pulling out from Gaza, while continuing to build the infamous separation wall in the occupied West Bank, isolating Palestinians into divided cantons. The officials added that intensive US negotiations with Sharon's government were also behind Israel's recent decision to alter the route of parts of the separation wall in the West Bank, mainly to ease the hardship of thousands of Palestinians who are encircled by the widely criticised project. US officials said that if ongoing negotiations behind the scenes achieve the aspired progress, Sharon's visit could take place in late March or early April. The negotiations do not only involve Israel and the United States, but also Arab countries -- mainly Egypt and Jordan -- and the Europeans. One sign that the ongoing consultations are achieving progress would be the holding a long awaited meeting between Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, known as Abu Alaa, informed US officials and Washington-based diplomats said. Such meeting would not only be a sign of progress, but would also shatter to a large extent the notion that Sharon will carry out a unilateral move without coordinating with the decaying Palestinian Authority (PA) which remains tightly controlled by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. US officials even refuse to discuss Arafat, insisting they would not deal with the besieged Palestinian leader whom they accuse of failing to combat so-called terrorist groups. Sharon's original plan aimed at totally disregarding the PA, carrying out his unilateral move in coordination with Egypt, Jordan and the United States. Although US officials have not expressed a positive attitude towards Abu Alaa, compared to his predecessor Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), accusing him of failing to stand up to Arafat and carry out immediate reforms, they recognised that a unilateral Israeli move in Gaza, without coordinating with the PA, was practically impossible and could result in more chaos. Egypt has also openly rejected any proposal to take over responsibility in Gaza, insisting that the entire aim of the ongoing peace process was to establish an independent Palestinian state. US officials do not reject regional guarantees, but have expressed hope that achieving an Israeli pullout from Gaza would also encourage Abu Alaa to start carrying out requested reforms, mainly a crackdown on militant Palestinian groups, Hamas and Jihad. A surprise visit to Washington last week by the never-late-to-make-a-comeback former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres also implied that a deal was being cooked in Washington to restart limited movement on the peace track. Peres held meetings with senior State Department and National Security Council officials, including Powell and National Security Advisor Condeleezza Rice. Recognising that the implementation of any plan to evacuate settlements in Gaza would likely lead to the collapse of his right-wing coalition, informed sources said Rice discussed with Peres the seriousness of Sharon's plan, and possibilities that Labour could join a unity government in Israel. In statements at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a key think-tank involved in Palestinian-Israeli talks, Peres gave no decisive answers on possibilities of joining a unity government, but confirmed that Labour will support the "politics of peace" in the Israeli Knesset. But several US and Israeli reports indicated that the veteran Israeli politician was conducting secret talks with Sharon, and that he was actually acting as Sharon's envoy to Washington last week to affirm his seriousness in evacuating Israel's settlements in Gaza. The fact that Peres headed from Washington to Cairo to confer with President Hosni Mubarak was another sign that he was not only conducting talks in his capacity as Israel's foremost opposition leader. While in Washington, Peres praised what he described as "Egypt's positive role" in the ongoing effort to revive the road map. While insisting that any Israeli pullout from Gaza has to be complete, contrary to proposals by Israel's Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz to evacuate settlements while maintaining a military presence, Peres said he also backed the possibility of Egypt taking over responsibility for the border with Gaza. He also echoed the common view that Israel could not carry out a unilateral move in Gaza, saying the Israeli government should deal with the Palestinian premier, Abu Alaa. "Israel should deal with Qurie and let him deal with Arafat," Peres said at the Washington Institute. However, when pressed by the Weekly to determine a date for a possible Israeli pullout from Gaza, Peres said he could not give a concrete answer, but he said he believed "it should take months". With the expected collapse of the Israeli ruling right-wing coalition if Sharon went ahead with the Gaza evacuation plan, taking concrete moves on the ground is unlikely in the short term. Many observers and Washington-based diplomats also doubt the US administration will have enough time to devote energy to complicated Palestinian- Israeli talks with its hands full in Iraq and amidst a clearly difficult election year. The same diplomats did not also exclude the possibility that the US administration was offering a "sweetener" to Arab countries ahead of announcing a key initiative in June seeking to carry out political, economic and social reform in the region, now known as the Greater Middle East Partnership. The plan was widely criticised by Arab governments, saying Washington failed to coordinate in advance with them, and insisting that it should be primarily the peoples of the region who propose reform initiatives. Arabs also feared the initiative aimed at disregarding the Palestinian issue, giving priority to domestic reforms. Whatever minimal moves on the Palestinian track may be undertaken Arabs fear that the Bush administration, in its election year, is set on foisting its new initiative on the region. It would seem easier than censuring Israel. Or perhaps Washington hopes that a restyled Middle East would forget about Palestine?
