Arafat seeks Putin's role

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), NOV. 24. While the Israelis and Palestinians continue to confront each other on the ground using military force, diplomatic efforts have been reinvigorated at several levels.

The Palestinian Authority President, Mr. Yasser Arafat, travelled to Moscow today in an effort to persuade the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, to play a more active role as co-sponsor of the negotiations. A senior aide to Mr. Arafat on Thursday met Mr. Ephraim Sneh, Israel's Deputy Defence Minister and the person who looks after Israel's interests in the occupied territories, and a senior aide to the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak, is to soon meet the Egyptian President, Mr. Hosni Mubarak.

For the greater part, the Palestinian and Israeli diplomatic efforts are not aimed at a convergence but are being carried out more with a view to espouse their positions before other countries and leaders. The meetings between the Israelis and Palestinians or between Israelis and Egyptians have not been initiated at sufficiently senior levels to suggest that there is a serious effort at a breakthrough. The U.S., apparently still affected by the political paralysis on account of the re-count in Florida, is currently conducting little more than long-distance mediation.

A committee to probe the causes of the confrontation, the commencement of which body's activities might cool tempers down, has not been fully constituted and the U.N. Security Council is still in the very early stages of exploring a Palestinian request for the deployment of an international force between the two sides. The word from Moscow was that the Russians were thinking of announcing a new initiative. While the Palestinians are eager that the Russians should get involved and widen the mediating team beyond the U.S., the Israelis are not very enthusiastic about such an outcome. It is also unclear what formula the Russians can pronounce beyond the international call for an end to the violent confrontations prior to the resumption of the peace negotiations.

One positive sign is that the U.S. administration has shifted ever so slightly to the middle ground by expressing itself against the use of excessive force by Israel and calling for an end to the siege of Palestinian towns and an easing of the economic blockade that Israel has imposed on the Palestinians. The U.S. has, however, blocked every effort at an international condemnation of Israel and is not ready for an internationalisation of the mediation efforts. Unless the U.S. takes a firmer stand, the Israeli's are not likely to heed the calls for restraint from the rest of the international community.

Egypt's decision to recall its ambassador and Jordan's refusal to send a new envoy to replace the person who recently retired from the post have been viewed seriously by Israel. These steps have, however, not raised concerns in Israel to a level commensurate with the serious erosion of all the diplomatic links that Israel has built with the Arab world over two decades. The conviction that they are the most powerful military force in the region still dominates Israel's response to the Palestinian challenge and the serious misgivings expressed by even the friendly Arab countries.

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Section  : International
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