The Hindu : Powell visit may achieve little

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 12, 2002

International

International

Powell visit may achieve little

By Kesava Menon

Manama (Bahrain) April 11. The U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, will touch down in Tel Aviv today for talks with Israel's Prime Minister, Mr. Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian Authority President, Yasser Arafat, that are due to begin tomorrow.

Gen. Powell will come armed with what is being dubbed as the Madrid Declaration and his objective is to make the Israelis and Palestinians agree to a cease-fire, get Israel to end its military incursions into the West Bank and prod both sides to start political discussions. But analysts in the region are fast coming to the view that Gen. Powell will have to impose his will rather than coax the two sides to work out a solution by themselves.

The Madrid Declaration was worked out in talks yesterday at which senior representatives from Russia, the European Union, the U.N. and the U.S. participated. The Declaration calls for an immediate cease-fire, halt to Israeli incursions, an end to the settlement building activity by Israel in the Palestinian territories, the declaration of a Palestinian state and the "immediate'' start of peace talks. Israel is also being asked "to fully comply with international humanitarian principles'' and to cease the excessive use of force.

The statement calls on the Palestinians to halt attacks against Israeli civilians and to make every effort to destroy the terrorist infrastructure, which is described as "illegal'' and "immoral'' and harmful to the Palestinians' legitimate aspirations. Mr. Sharon has said, after the Madrid Declaration was issued, that his military operations will continue till what he describes as the "terrorist infrastructure'' is destroyed. En route to Israel, Gen. Powell has reiterated that the military operations alone will not bring an end to terrorism unless the frustration and rage behind these attacks are addressed.

That is the first point at which there is expected to be a clash of wills between Mr. Sharon and Gen. Powell.

Secondly, Mr. Sharon has thus far stuck to his stance that there will be no political talks until an effective cease-fire is in place. The Madrid Declaration proposes the immediate launching of political dialogue in parallel with talks aimed at securing a cease-fire.

This could be the second point on which there could be a clash of wills. However, according to a report in Ha'aretz, Mr. Sharon might agree to the launching of political talks simultaneously with cease-fire talks provided Mr. Arafat does not participate.

Mr. Sharon's efforts to de-legitimise Mr. Arafat has so far failed with the U.S. joining the others in affirming that Mr. Arafat is the legitimate and elected leader of the Palestinians and demonstrating (through the meeting that Gen. Powell will hold with him) that they will continue to deal with him. Apparently, there are already suggestions that the U.S. should get more deeply involved by posting peace-monitoring if not peace-keeping personnel.

The idea that a U.S. or NATO-led peace-keeping force should be deployed in the territories, thus enabling Israel to withdraw with a sense of security while simultaneously providing the Palestinians with an end to military occupation, is an attractive one. But it is an idea that will take time to take roots if at all it does.

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