Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will make a delayed trip to the United States early next month, a diplomat said on Wednesday, as expectations grew of renewed US mediation in the Middle East peace process.
"Sharon will be here the week of December 3," the diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity, adding that the Israeli leader would meet President George W. Bush.
Sharon canceled plans to attend the UN General Assembly last week, where Secretary of State Colin Powell promised Middle East diplomacy "in the days and weeks ahead."
His decision followed repeated US calls for Israel to withdraw its forces from Palestinian-controlled areas but may also have been motivated by a desire not to push Bush into meeting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, analysts said.
Bush has met Sharon several times but has not held talks with Arafat despite the fact that he was also at the UN General Assembly last week. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said Arafat had not done enough to lower the level of violence or "root out terrorists."
But the administration has shown signs of a desire to take an active role after adopting a more stand-back approach than its predecessor the Clinton administration, which brought the parties to the brink of a peace deal.
A second diplomat cited US officials as saying they envisioned a "sustained" mediating presence in the region.
Middle East parties are looking to a policy speech Powell is due to deliver in Louisville, Kentucky, on Novemmber 19 for signs of how Washington plans to proceed after comments by Bush in New York and during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday showing a renewed focus on the conflict.
The Washington Post said that after Powell's speech next week Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, a government consultant on Middle Eastern affairs, would travel to the region.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher did not confirm such a plan, but said whether they traveled "will be decided according to whether there's something useful they can do."
A senior State Department official dismissed as "guessing" reports on what Powell would say and steered reporters away from assuming the focus would necessarily be the Middle East.
"It's just not locked in yet," he said. "We are waiting for the secretary to decide what he wants to talk about."
But regional diplomats in Washington expected the speech to flesh out how Washington wants to proceed with peace efforts.
"We welcome the recent high-profile US engagement in the Middle East peace process, at President Bush's level at the UN, with President Putin and the upcoming statement by Secretary Powell," said Egyptian Ambassador Nabil Fahmy.
"We are looking forward to seeing these policy positions translated into an increasingly concrete role for the US with engagement with parties in the region, and we would welcome this development if it occurs," he told Reuters.
Turning words into deeds
Israeli Embassy spokesman Mark Regev told Reuters his side's expectation was that Powell's speech would also focus on the need for the Palestinian side to cut ties to terrorism.
"Our understanding is that the speech will state US Middle East policy. That is: everything can be achieved at the negotiating table and nothing can be achieved through terror.
"And there will be an unequivocal message from Washington to the Palestinians that they must turn word into deed and take specific and concrete steps to end this terrorism," he said.
Palestinian envoy Hassan Abdel Rahman said he had also heard there would be a US mission to the Middle East, and said Powell's speech would outline a vision of a final peace.
A top-level European Union delegation is expected to visit the Middle East on Thursday. Jordan's King Abdullah spoke over the weekend about an internationally agreed plan under which the Arab world would publicly guarantee Israel's security in return for the creation of a Palestinian state.
Bush told the General Assembly on Saturday that Washington was working toward two states, "Israel and Palestine," living peacefully together in secure and recognized borders.
"You have the vision speech by Bush and we look forward to a crystallization speech by Powell which would be the mandate on which US engagement is based with the two parties," one diplomat said.
"And the more concrete it is, the better."
(China Daily November 15, 2001)
