Ward To Be New US "Security Coordinator"

2005-02-07

Herb Keinon and JPost staff

The Jerusalem Post

www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/ JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1107575181612&p=1078113566627

[IMRA: It remains to be seen if the double role of helping to build up arm and train the PA security forces on the one hand and acting as a go-between/coordinator on the other will work out since they can readily be roles with conflicting interests (e.g. for the sake of expediting the development of the force there may be a temptation to ignore what they do or fail to do that hurts Israel's security - this especially when Secretary of State Rice already has stated that she expects it to take time for them to get their act together.

The full text of remarks in Ramallah and later in the day were not put on the State Department website as late as 6:30 PM EST. The State Department Press Office told IMRA that while ten transcripts were prepared on Sunday by the team traveling with Rice that they so far have only transmitted one transcript today as "they are moving".]

The United States pledges to give the Palestinian Authority $40 million over the coming 90 days as part of a quick-action program to aid and ease the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced at a joint press conference with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah Monday afternoon. The US government will send the PA a total of $340 million in the coming year, Rice said.

As first reported by the Jerusalem Post on February 1, the secretary of state confirmed on Monday that Washington intends to dispatch a high-level "security coordinator" to the region. Later in the day, she named US Gen. William Ward, formerly the head of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia, as the new American coordinator.

The US intends to help revive the Palestinian economy and rebuild the PA security forces, she said. Addressing the PA's challenge in cracking down on terror organizations, Rice responded: "One can't expect to have a timetable on security; however, there has already been faster progress under Abbas than we have seen in quite a long time. It will be a long road towards the reformation of security forces, but the road map is a reliable guide, and both Abbas and Sharon have said they are committed to this process."

"This is a promising moment," Rice said in Ramallah. She wished the Palestinian people well, and congratulated them on the recent PA general and local elections. Chairman Abbas, she said, was elected on a platform of democratic reform, a negotiated settlement and an end to violence.

Speaking in Arabic, Abbas said that the PA leadership had reached a cease-fire with Palestinian factions, saying this indicates "our desire for a peaceful situation."

Abbas thanked Rice and the Bush Administration for their assistance. "Tomorrow we are going to Sharm e-Sheikh; We hope the results of the summit will be positive," Abbas said, thanking Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for his involvement in the talks and for hosting the summit.

Rice said the summit is an extremely important step forward. Speaking of US involvement in the process, the secretary of state said, "Not everything has to involve the US, but the US has to be there when it is needed." The Bush Administration will be active in getting the two sides back to the road map peace process, she pledged. "Buts it's a very good thing when the parties can do so much on their own, as Israel and the Palestinians have done in recent weeks."

The meeting between the two was held in the former headquarters of the late PA chairman Yasser Arafat, whom the United States had shunned as a leader tainted by terrorism. Unlike other visiting officials, Rice did not pause at Arafat's grave as she entered the walled compound.

The Palestinians were expected to ask Rice to press the Israelis for concessions and gestures ahead of the summit between Abbas and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

Earlier Monday, Rice met with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz in Jerusalem. Following the meeting, in which the two discussed, among other issues, the worrying situation of Iran, Mofaz said that a military strike against Iranian nuclear targets was not on the agenda. "I think we see eye-to-eye (with the US) that the diplomatic path is the correct one at this time,"

Mofaz said. "We did not speak of other options."

Mofaz said he told Rice he hoped the United States would bring the issue of Iranian nuclear weapons program to the United Nations' Security Council which could impose sanctions and demand "wide and penetrating" inspections of all Iranian nuclear installations.

"The Iranians are very much concerned with the fact that the Americans are leading the termination of the Iranian nuclear program," Mofaz said. "At this juncture in time this is certainly the correct path."

Continuing her whirlwind diplomatic tour of Israel and the PA, Rice also met with Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres Monday morning.

Peres, well aware of the importance that the US places on the democratization of the Middle East, told Rice that "economic democracy" is no less important than "political democracy."

He said this means an economy that is modern, transparent and based on high-tech. Peres said "economic democracy is felt by the people," and that in order for people not to feel disappointed by the peace process, immediate benefits for the population should be given precedence over the long term.

In private gatherings and public declarations on Sunday, the visiting US secretary of state urged Israel to do everything possible to support Abbas, and to refrain from taking steps that would make it more difficult for him to assert his authority. Arriving Sunday for a charged 24-hour trip to the region, Rice commenced her visit with a stop at Yad Vashem, after which she met with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and President Moshe Katsav, then sat with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for an hour, followed by a dinner at his residence with him and his closest advisers for another 90 minutes.

During her meeting with Shalom, Rice said that one step Israel should avoid was taking unilateral action in Jerusalem, such as the government's decision last summer to apply the Absentee Property Law to lands and buildings owned by Palestinians living outside the boundaries of post-Six Day War Jerusalem.

Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz has come out against this move - which would allow Israel to confiscate property owned by Palestinians who were separated from their land by the security barrier - and ordered that it not be implemented.

Rice told Shalom that actions such as these would make it difficult for Abbas to establish his authority and legitimacy, and should therefore be avoided. According to diplomatic officials, Rice said that Abbas needed to have tangible results to take to his people.

Diplomatic officials said the exchange over the Absentee Property Law was not conducted in a confrontational manner, and that Shalom did not enter into a lengthy discussion with Rice about the issue.

Rather, the official said, Rice was making clear that there were limits to the types of action the US wanted to see Israel take, and that it was also clear that Israel did not intend "pushing those limits."

Rice, according to US officials, had alluded in her meetings with Sharon to the possibility that the US would send a security official to serve as a go-between the two sides and help them coordinate steps needed to bring about a real cease-fire.

Rice, the officials said, "outlined for Sharon a possible security mechanism to help Palestinians build effective security forces that fight terrorism, and help Palestinians and Israelis in cooperating to end the violence."

One official said that, at the dinner, Rice made clear that the US understands that one election does not make a democracy, and that the US will remain focused on pressing the Palestinian Authority to both institute reform and tackle terrorism. Although Rice made it clear she wanted Israel to take steps to bolster Abbas, she steered away from getting entangled in the contentious question of the Palestinian prisoner release.

Asked in a Channel 2 interview if she felt that Israel should release convicted murderers, a move that would substantially boost Abbas, Rice replied, "This is a decision for a democratically elected Israeli government. I do hope that there will be a spirit of recognizing that this is a time of opportunity, of engaging the Palestinians on what needs to be done. Both parties have to exercise their responsibilities. But I would not presume to tell the Israeli government - an elected, democratic Israeli government - precisely what prisoners it should release."

Although the issue of the unauthorized settlement outposts and settlement construction did not come up in the meeting with Shalom, diplomatic officials said Rice was expected to make clear during her visit that the US did not want to see Israel issue any wholesale tenders for housing construction in the settlements - even in settlements that fell within the parameters of what Israel believes are settlement blocs accepted by the US.

Asked about the settlement blocs and construction inside them, Rice said that while President George W. Bush did give some public assurances to Israel in connection with the disengagement plan in his famous letter last year, "he made very clear that everything had to be negotiated, that the final-status arrangements would have to be up to the parties."

"The key here is that we have ahead of us a road map; we have ahead of us a way toward the vision of two states living side by side," she said. "We have been very clear that we would expect our friends in Israel to do nothing that would somehow prejudge the outcome of a final-status agreement in terms of territory, that this is something that really must be negotiated with the Palestinians."

Arieh O'Sullivan contributed to this report.

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis