ELVIS
02-09-2005, 01:30 PM
February 09, 2005 (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1476533,00.html)
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor
http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,177798,00.jpg
simple declarations, brief handshakes and sober atmosphere of the peace talks in Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday reflect the mood of realism between Israel and the Palestinians as they enter a new chapter in their history.
This is potentially the start of a process that could yield huge benefits to the war-weary Jews and Arabs who inhabit the Holy Land. It offers the hope of an end to violence, a resumption of peace talks and the opportunity for both nations to rebuild their lives and shattered economies.
Yet the meeting was just one step in a long and treacherous mission that has confounded the best efforts of statesmen through the decades. Along the way, militants in both communities and in hardline states throughout the region will do their best to derail the process and reignite the conflict.
By declaring a ceasefire, both sides are hoping to turn back the clock to September 2000, when hostilities erupted at the start of what became known as the second intifada.
Both leaders have agreed to move quickly to the next stages — confidence-building measures to deliver immediate improvements to ordinary Palestinians and Israelis.
Much of what happens next depends on Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister. He has undertaken to halt all attacks against Palestinians, to begin freeing up to 900 Palestinian prisoners and to start the withdrawal of Israeli forces from five Palestinian cities — Jericho, Bethlehem, Tulkarem, Qalqilya and Ramallah.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, has one simple duty: he must ensure that the Palestinian Authority can stop the various militant groups from attacking Israeli targets. He must keep order in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and persuade the Israelis and the international community that he is a credible leader who can live up to his promises.
Some of the world’s most powerful nations, including the United States, the members of the European Union and moderate Arab states, stand ready to help with money, expertise and diplomatic muscle.
Next month, Mr Abbas will visit London for a conference to help the Palestinian Authority to institute reforms that will hopefully bury the legacy of corruption left by Yassir Arafat, the late Palestinian leader, and create an administration answerable to its people. Much of the focus will be on the security forces, which must be transformed from a dozen competing groups into a disciplined unit capable of taking on well-organised and ruthless militant organisations.
As the process gathers pace, Mr Sharon, Mr Abbas and their advisers will be working increasingly in tandem, visiting each other’s homes and heading to Washington for talks at the White House with President Bush in the spring.
The test of the new relationship will come in July, when Israel has promised to begin the withdrawal of its forces and the dismantling of Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip. If the 12-week operation goes smoothly and the withdrawal is successfully co-ordinated with the Palestinians, the precedent will have been set for a real land-for-peace exchange, the basis of the two- state solution both sides advocate.
The hectic timetable of the next few months is a huge undertaking and no one seriously believes that it can be achie- ved without blood being shed. Yet even if it is a success, the two sides still face the problems of final-status issues, the so-called “red lines” that have bedevilled past initiatives.
The Palestinians insist that the borders of their future state must follow the frontier that existed before the Six-Day War in 1967, to include all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Arab East Jerusalem.
For Mr Sharon this is a non-starter. Israel may be ready to leave Gaza, but it continues to expand Jewish settlements on the West Bank and to build his controversial separation wall through Arab lands. East Jerusalem, which includes the Old City and the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, is regarded as non-negotiable.
So, too, are Palestinian demands that millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants be granted the right to return to their homes in what was British mandate Palestine.
These issues undermined the last real peace effort in Camp David in August 2000, when President Clinton tried to strike a deal between Arafat and Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Prime Minister. The failure of those talks led to 4˝ years of violence, which destroyed any trust between the two communities and strengthened the hands of the militants on both sides.
Perhaps for that reason few Israelis or Palestinians were predicting yesterday that peace may finally be at hand.
:elvis:
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor
http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,177798,00.jpg
simple declarations, brief handshakes and sober atmosphere of the peace talks in Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday reflect the mood of realism between Israel and the Palestinians as they enter a new chapter in their history.
This is potentially the start of a process that could yield huge benefits to the war-weary Jews and Arabs who inhabit the Holy Land. It offers the hope of an end to violence, a resumption of peace talks and the opportunity for both nations to rebuild their lives and shattered economies.
Yet the meeting was just one step in a long and treacherous mission that has confounded the best efforts of statesmen through the decades. Along the way, militants in both communities and in hardline states throughout the region will do their best to derail the process and reignite the conflict.
By declaring a ceasefire, both sides are hoping to turn back the clock to September 2000, when hostilities erupted at the start of what became known as the second intifada.
Both leaders have agreed to move quickly to the next stages — confidence-building measures to deliver immediate improvements to ordinary Palestinians and Israelis.
Much of what happens next depends on Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister. He has undertaken to halt all attacks against Palestinians, to begin freeing up to 900 Palestinian prisoners and to start the withdrawal of Israeli forces from five Palestinian cities — Jericho, Bethlehem, Tulkarem, Qalqilya and Ramallah.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, has one simple duty: he must ensure that the Palestinian Authority can stop the various militant groups from attacking Israeli targets. He must keep order in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and persuade the Israelis and the international community that he is a credible leader who can live up to his promises.
Some of the world’s most powerful nations, including the United States, the members of the European Union and moderate Arab states, stand ready to help with money, expertise and diplomatic muscle.
Next month, Mr Abbas will visit London for a conference to help the Palestinian Authority to institute reforms that will hopefully bury the legacy of corruption left by Yassir Arafat, the late Palestinian leader, and create an administration answerable to its people. Much of the focus will be on the security forces, which must be transformed from a dozen competing groups into a disciplined unit capable of taking on well-organised and ruthless militant organisations.
As the process gathers pace, Mr Sharon, Mr Abbas and their advisers will be working increasingly in tandem, visiting each other’s homes and heading to Washington for talks at the White House with President Bush in the spring.
The test of the new relationship will come in July, when Israel has promised to begin the withdrawal of its forces and the dismantling of Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip. If the 12-week operation goes smoothly and the withdrawal is successfully co-ordinated with the Palestinians, the precedent will have been set for a real land-for-peace exchange, the basis of the two- state solution both sides advocate.
The hectic timetable of the next few months is a huge undertaking and no one seriously believes that it can be achie- ved without blood being shed. Yet even if it is a success, the two sides still face the problems of final-status issues, the so-called “red lines” that have bedevilled past initiatives.
The Palestinians insist that the borders of their future state must follow the frontier that existed before the Six-Day War in 1967, to include all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Arab East Jerusalem.
For Mr Sharon this is a non-starter. Israel may be ready to leave Gaza, but it continues to expand Jewish settlements on the West Bank and to build his controversial separation wall through Arab lands. East Jerusalem, which includes the Old City and the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, is regarded as non-negotiable.
So, too, are Palestinian demands that millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants be granted the right to return to their homes in what was British mandate Palestine.
These issues undermined the last real peace effort in Camp David in August 2000, when President Clinton tried to strike a deal between Arafat and Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Prime Minister. The failure of those talks led to 4˝ years of violence, which destroyed any trust between the two communities and strengthened the hands of the militants on both sides.
Perhaps for that reason few Israelis or Palestinians were predicting yesterday that peace may finally be at hand.
:elvis: