Palestinians Hail US Efforts But Warn Israel on Settlements, Blockade

The Palestinian leadership said Thursday that US efforts to revive the peace process by starting the Mitchell plan were "positive" but pressed Washington to get Israel to end settlement construction.

The Palestinian cabinet and members of the PLO executive committee issued the statement from a meeting held after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with US Secretary of State Colin Powell here earlier in the day.

It hailed "the positive efforts of the United States and the international community to quickly carry out the recommendations of the Mitchell report," the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

It said Arafat had asked Powell to "accelerate the implementation of the report and put pressure on the government of (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon to lift the blockade on the territories and give up its settlements policy."

Arafat also insisted on "the necessity of sending international observers to the Palestinian territories to supervise the application of the stages of the report," the statement said.

"The opposition within the Israeli government to halting its settlements policy shows a desire to not apply the Mitchell report and not to resume negotiations," it said, cited by Wafa.

"Calm cannot be established if Israel maintains its blockade and continues its aggressions against the Palestinians," the statement said.

Arafat said at a press conference with Powell earlier: "I insist that, as the chief sponsor of the peace process, you see to it that the clause in the Mitchell report on settlements be applied, because our people are suffering by watching their land be confiscated and settled."

Israel slapped a blockade around the Palestinian territories at the beginning of the Palestinian uprising nine months ago.

A freeze on settlement construction is one of the so-called confidence building measures to come into effect in a later stage of the Mitchell plan, which has international backing to get Israel and the Palestinians back to peace talks.

Powell announced with Sharon at a press conference in Jerusalem that the six-week cooling off period, which comes before the confidence measures, would begin after there were seven days free of bloodshed.

"Following that successful seven day period, which I hope will come about in the very near future, we will move into the Mitchell committee sequence," Powell said.

"This is a package, it's a plan, it will work if we can get the violence ended," he said.

(Chinadaily.com.cn 06/29/2001)