Top diplomats of the Middle East "quartet" -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- will meet in New York Tuesday to discuss how to revive the peace process on the basis of a proposal put forward by US President George W. Bush last month.
The meeting, a follow-up to a session of quartet Middle East special envoys in London last week, is expected to include, among others, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, EU representative Javier Solana and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Meanwhile, the quartet representatives are also scheduled to interact with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher at a dinner on Tuesday night. The two Arab ministers will then join Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal to meet with Powell in Washington on July 18.
Despite the absence of Israeli and Palestinian representatives,the New York meeting, combined with follow-up interactions in Washington between the US and the Arabs, effectively constitutes amini international conference on the Middle East. Whatever comes out from the meetings will undoubtedly have a far-reaching impact on the direction of the Middle East peace process.
The high-level quartet meeting was arranged when the Middle East peace process comes at a crossroads after Bush unveiled his controversial peace plan on June 24.
Almost since the minute of its publication, the much-touted US initiative triggered as much cheers as criticisms or concerns in the international community.
The ideas on a provisional Palestinian state and a three-year timetable for the eventual settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, thought not without conditions, have been widely hailed as a manifestation of the Bush administration's commitment to the Middle East peace process, providing hopes for the Palestinians with a tangible political horizon.
However, the tough preconditions Bush has set for the Palestinians, obviously a one-sided approach in favor of Israel and lacking a clear road-map, also invited wide-spread criticisms or questions both at home and abroad.
Analysts believe that although the New York meeting will focus on the Bush plan, the participants, especially the US, the Arabs and the EU, will promote different agendas to meet their own interests.
The US will be more interested in pushing the issue on Palestinian reforms than in implementing the Bush plan in its entity.
The Arabs, although understandably welcoming a more active US role in settling the Middle East conflict, will by no means accept the US package indiscriminately. They will focus on the positive elements in the plan and seek a stronger US commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state and an eventual solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The European Union, which has been keeping a distance with Washington on the Middle East issue, will come to New York with its own agenda. Unlike the US, the EU is neither a close ally of Israel nor subject to the influence of a powerful Jewish lobby.
With more than half of its oil supply coming from the Middle East, compared with only less than one-third for the US, the EU is also wary of any US policy which may aggravate the Middle East violence and jeopardize the oil supply from the region. The EU has refused to go along with Bush's demand for a sweeping change in the Palestinian leadership.
Despite their differences, the parties have much in stakes to come together to chart a new road-map for the Middle East peace process following the collapse of the Oslo accords after 22 months of bloody conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians, Analysts say.
It will be interesting to see whether the US is willing to make some adjustments to the Bush plan so that the quartet meeting could work out a balanced approach to put to an end the agonizing conflict in the Middle East.
(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2002)
