24 - 30 May 2001
Issue No.535
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 24 - 30 May 2001 Issue No.535 |
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Terms of engagement
The official US endorsement of the Mitchell Report is considered a springboard for active American involvement in the Middle East peace process. But what the "fully engaged" Bush administration will be able to do remains a question. Thomas Gorguissian reports from Washington
On Monday, the United States endorsed the recommendations of the Sharm El-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee, known as the Mitchell Committee. These aim at halting violence between Israelis and Palestinians, trying to establish a cooling-off period, rebuilding confidence and resuming peace negotiations.
In a press conference, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that he had instructed former US Ambassador to Jordan William Burns to "bring these recommendations into effect and then set out the timeline for implementation of the confidence-building measures leading to the resumption of negotiations."
Ambassador Burns, 44, recently nominated assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, will work with US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk and US Consul-General in Jerusalem Ron Schlicher.
Powell was clear in describing the limits of American involvement. "The United States is not putting forward a new peace plan today [... and] is not convening a meeting for the purpose of going over various final status issues," he said.
On the question of Israeli settlements he was cautious: "The settlement issue has to be dealt with at the end of the day as part of the confidence-building measures between the two sides." Powell explained somewhat vaguely: "What I want to see is what possibilities exist to bridge the very sharp disagreements that exist between the two sides with respect to expansion within existing settlements." In the last few weeks Israeli officials, from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on down, have warned Washington against demanding a freeze on Israeli settlement construction, which might be perceived as a reward for Palestinian violence.
In a New York press conference, Senator Mitchell was clearer, saying the government of Israel should freeze all settlement activity, including the "natural growth" of existing settlements. Mitchell, with former Senator and fact-finding committee member Warren Rudman, said in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post: "Our view that settlement construction is an obstacle to resolution of the conflict is consistent with US policy over the past quarter-century."
On the day the report was released, the Peace Now movement in Israel and its counterpart in the United States revealed that 15 new Israeli settlements have been built in the West Bank since Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister on 6 February. In a press release, the group pointed out that these new settlements directly contradict the Sharon government's coalition guidelines, which state that no new settlements will be established. The names, locations and aerial photos of the new settlements appear on Peace Now's Web site. Former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, addressing a gathering in New York, said that he believed that "after all these years, we'll still have to go back to the 1967 borders to achieve peace."
The Mitchell Report says, "The Palestinian Authority [PA] should prevent gunmen from using Palestinian-populated areas to fire upon Israeli-populated areas and IDF [Israeli army] positions." The report denies that Sharon's visit to the Al-Haram Al-Sharif compound last September caused the Al-Aqsa Intifada, but mentioned that it was poorly timed and that its provocative effect should have been foreseen. Nor did the Mitchell Report recommend sending international forces to the region. "We believe that, to be effective, such a force would need the support of both parties," the report reads. The government of Israel, as Mitchell explained, is adamantly opposed to such a force.
Most observers hailed the selection of Ambassador Burns as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. Besides being a well respected career diplomat, Burns has a deep understanding of the region. At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington on 17 May, Burns said: "We have no monopoly on wisdom in the Middle East. We should invest heavily in building relations of trust with our key bilateral partners in the Arab world, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia." In the ambassador's words, active American engagement in the Middle East is not an option but a necessity.
But that "engagement" found no reflection in reality. Despite the escalation of Israeli attacks and the recent use of F-16s -- a clear violation of the US Arms Export Control Act -- American officials and lawmakers have avoided publicly criticising Israel. When Vice-President Dick Cheney was asked if the Israelis should stop using F-16s, he said: "Yeah. I think they should stop. Both sides should stop and think about where they're headed here and recognise that down this road lies disaster." And when he was asked what the US would do if the Israelis continue to use the F-16s, he said: "I'll just leave it where I'm at. It's a very delicate situation and I don't think we need to go beyond what I've already said."
Meanwhile, President Bush said his administration will continue to work with the region's leaders "to break the cycle of violence in order to begin meaningful discussions about any kind of political settlement." Many observers are waiting to see if the latest initiatives will be enough to save the region. "Up until now, I think [the Bush administration] put a premium on working with the parties, but hoping the parties themselves could find a way out of this," Dennis Ross, Bill Clinton's envoy to the Middle East, told NBC. "I think we can see this isn't going to work. We need more intense involvement. But is the Bush administration ready to get more engaged and decisive?"
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