Washington's Middle East policy is increasingly at odds with its allies. Hoda Tawfik reports from Washington, Soha Abdelaty from Cairo US President George W Bush will today hear first hand Arab reservations on his vision for Middle East peace in direct and collective talks with three visiting Arab foreign ministers. Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, Saudi Arabia's Saud Al- Faisal and Jordan's Marawan Muashar will all be at the meeting at the White House. The consultations follow the apparent failure of Washington's attempts to rally the support of its European allies and the three Arab ministers behind Bush's strategy of ostracising Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and his attempts to impose security for Israel as the only condition on progress towards peace. The divergences in opinion emerged after meetings in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York on Tuesday of the so-called Madrid Quartet -- the EU, Russia, the UN and the US. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia joined the talks later on Tuesday at the residence of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Washington's solo act began when US Secretary- of-State Colin Powell reiterated the Bush administration's position on side-lining Arafat. After meeting with the Quartet Powell told reporters that the four countries had not discussed the "future" of Arafat, but added that "the leadership that they [the Palestinians] have enjoyed in recent years has not brought them any closer to a Palestinian state." The UN, the EU and Russia did not see things in quite the same way. "We all have our respective positions," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told journalists at a press conference with the other members of the Quartet. "The UN still recognises Chairman Arafat." Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Danish Foreign Minister Stig Moller -- Denmark currently holds the presidency of the EU -- reiterated Annan's position. Maher acknowledged the discrepancy, saying that he, the EU, Annan and Russia had all stressed Arafat's legitimacy as the elected leader of the Palestinians in the face of repeated public statements by US officials reiterating their unwillingness to grant Arafat any role in the peace process. Maher, though, believes that some common ground could still be reached. "Our position on the question of Yasser Arafat is well known, the position of the Americans is also well known, but this should not prevent us from working for peace and for security for all the peoples in the area," he said after a dinner meeting with Quartet representatives. It was an optimism shared by Muashar. "What we all want to do is sit down and try to work out a plan of action that will move us forward towards the end of occupation without focusing on persons but on the issues and I think we have made good progress," he said. Arafat was not the only contentious issue at the New York meetings. Although the US had earlier emphasised the necessity of moving on the political, security and humanitarian fronts simultaneously, Powell back-tracked this week. "Everything really begins with creating a better sense of security, a better handle on the security situation in the region," he said on Tuesday. "Until we get a better handle on the security aspect of it and until we get a little more movement on the humanitarian side of it, they will be parallel, but they will not exactly be in synchronisation," he added. After the talks Maher told Al-Ahram Weekly "we all agreed that there should be equal commitments on Israel to withdraw its forces and end occupation." He stressed during the talks that although security was necessary it would not work if the political track failed to move simultaneously. "The Europeans stressed the urgency of moving forward on all tracks, giving priority to the political as well as economic, humanitarian and security tracks," he added. "Their position is close to the Arab position expressed during discussions in New York." Tuesday's meetings clearly fell short of coming up with even a tentative plan with a time-frame -- an oft-reiterated Arab demand -- preferring to work loosely within the three-year time-frame outlined by Bush in his 24 June speech. Participants did agree, however, to send a team of US, Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi intelligence experts, led by the CIA, to assist in the Palestinian reform process. EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana told reporters that he expects the CIA component of the team to arrive in the Middle East within the next two weeks. He added that Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi representatives would follow on their heels. The final communiqué of the Quartet meeting included wording that might even out some of the obstacles in the way of progress: "We also note," it read, "Israel's vital stake in Palestinian reform. We call on Israel to take concrete steps to support the emergence of a viable Palestinian state... These steps include easing internal closures and withdrawal of forces to their pre-September 28 2000 positions as security improves in reciprocal steps." It also called on Israel to release "frozen tax revenues... and stop all new settlement activity... The Israeli occupation that began in 1967 must end, and Israel must have secure, recognised borders". "The challenge now is to see if Israel will agree to these commitments to allow the Palestinians to carry out the reforms and hold elections after an Israeli withdrawal," Egyptian Ambassador to Washington Nabil Fahmy told the Weekly at the end of the talks. "It all depends on the outcome of contacts between Powell and Israel."
