MIDDLE EAST: U.S.NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE MEETS WITH ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER SHARON AND PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER ABBAS, ON THE U.S.BACKED PEACE PLAN.

Record ID: 646032

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: U.S.NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE MEETS WITH ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER SHARON AND PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER ABBAS, ON THE U.S.BACKED PEACE PLAN.
  • Date: 28th June 2003
  • Summary: (W3) JERUSALEM (JUNE 29, 2003) (REUTERS) VARIOUS: U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE ARRIVING IN CAR CONVOY AT ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON'S OFFICE / SECURITY / MORE OF MOTORCADE. (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 13th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM/ JERICHO AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK / GAZA
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA4YB9HF5M3Y2HNJJB0FDHGV7IM
  • Story Text: U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as Palestinian militants put off declaring a ceasefire with Israel because of factional disputes.
    National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice on Sunday (June 29) met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to push for more progress on the U.S.-backed peace plan known as the road map.
    Israel Army Radio said Rice and Sharon discussed details of Israel's troop pullback in Gaza and an easing of restrictions, including a release of Palestinian prisoners and the possible rebuilding of the Palestinians' international airport in southern Gaza. Israeli troops destroyed the runway 2001.
    The road map envisions confidence-building moves by both sides and the creation by 2005 of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip alongside Israel, which occupied both territories in the 1967 Middle East war.
    The meeting came a day after Rice met with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who accepted an invitation to the White House. Abbas would be the first Palestinian leader in three years to enter the White House. Bush has boycotted Palestinian Yasser Arafat, saying he is "tainted by terror".
    So far, Rice has avoided comment on her trip, which has coincided with several new developments.
    Security sources said on Sunday that Israel will begin withdrawing forces from the Gaza Strip on Monday in a disengagement deal with Palestinian authorities to advance a fragile U.S.-backed peace plan.
    Under the withdrawal plan, Israel would cease lightning incursions and dismantle military checkpoints, which have paralysed Palestinian life in Gaza, in return for Palestinian authorities taking security responsibility and cracking down on militant groups.
    But a joint truce announcement by Palestinian factions that had been expected on Sunday has been postponed, because of infighting within Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction.
    A formal joint truce announcement by militant factions waging a 33-month-old uprising against occupation had been expected on Sunday but officials of the main Fatah movement said it had been put off to Monday (June 30) or Tuesday (July 1).
    Fatah sources said the stumbling blocks were a refusal by a radical leftist faction to stop fighting and a demand by Islamist radicals that references to the "road map" be deleted because they oppose peacemaking with Israel in principle.
    Hamas, which has claimed responsibility for scores of bombings against Israelis in a 33-month-old revolt against Israeli occupation, has said it will only stick to the truce if Israeltrack-and-kill raids against militants and meets other terms.
    Hamas spokesman Abdel-aziz Rantissi said his group had adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
    "Up to now we are still awaiting the declaration. We have discussed and prepared our paper. The Hamas initiative was discussed again with Fatah and Islamic Jihad. Both of them accepted that document and they agreed to sign that document.
    But we are still waiting for the perfect time for the declaration and nothing else."
    Meanwhile Palestinian Legislative Council Member Saeb Erekat held negotiations with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) regarding a truce.
    The leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has opposed a ceasefire and the armed offshoot of Fatah, the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, complained it was not properly consulted. Erekat described the negotiations as constructive.
    "We had a very constructive meeting with (PFLP leader) Mr.
    Sadaat (Ahmad Sadaat) and I believe that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) will issue a statement today reiterating its position and at the same time reiterating its responsibility towards the Palestinian positions. The PFLP will not be the party to break decisions taken by the Palestinian factions for a hudna (ceasefire),"
    Erekat said.
    Palestinian officials fear that trying to wipe out Islamic factions, popular not only for "resistance" but for welfare and other social services in poverty-stricken cities, could provoke a civil war.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register