T I
diplomacy

A

Mideast diplomatic activity resumes,
but can any magic formula be found?

MITCHELL DANOW

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York City

•

iddle East diplomacy
shifted to New York
this week amid wide-
spread skepticism that
there is any formula that can convince
Israel and the Palestinians to make
even slight progress toward peace.
Helping fuel the skepticism was a
Palestinian terror attack on Tuesday that
claimed the lives of at least
eight -Israelis.
In an attack similar to
one carried out last
December, Palestinian ter-
rorists set off a bomb as a
bus neared the entrance to the West
Bank settlement of Immanuel and
then opened fire as people fled the
bus.
The attack came hours before offi-
cials from the so-called Quartet — the
United States, Russia, the European
Union and the United Nations — met
in New York in an effort to devise a
strategy that would help Israel and the
Palestinians overcome their seemingly
intractable differences.
The State Department entered
Tuesday's meetings seeking a dialogue
with its diplomatic partners to deter-
mine clear criteria for Palestinian reform.
The United States has not drafted
such criteria, a State Department offi-
cial said, but the goal is to announce
them by late August.
State Department officials were also
seeking "centralized, transparent,
accountable Palestinian institutions"
and "reciprocal steps by Israel" as the
Palestinians move forward with reform.
The main point of contention

between the United States and its
international partners is the status of
Palestinian Authority leader Yasser
Arafat.
The United States has made it clear
that they want Arafat out of power —
or at least away from the day-to-day
responsibilities of running the
Palestinian Authority. The Europeans,
Russians and U.N. leaders say Arafat is
the democratically elected leader of the
Palestinian people and therefore
should be involved in the reform
process.
Indeed, U.N. Secretary-
General Kofi Annan told
reporters after the first
round of meetings on
Tuesday: "As for Arafat, we
all have our respective positions. The
U.N. still recognizes Chairman Arafat
and we will continue to deal with him
until the Palestinians decide other-
wise.
Annan's comments on Arafat were
echoed by Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov and Foreign Minister Per Stig
Moller of Denmark, whose country is
currently heading the European Union.
Much of what emerges from this
week's meetings in New York with the
Quartet and with Arab leaders from
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan will
be used by a newly created interna-
tional task force.
The task force, involving the
Quartet plus Japan, Norway, the
World Bank and International
Monetary Fund, will seek to imple-
ment financial reforms within the
Palestinian government.
But questions have been raised as to
whether Quartet officials will be able
to reach agreement among themselves
on how to go forward — to say noth-

ANAL TES

An Israeli soldier carries a stretcher
onto a bullet-riddled bus at the
entrance to the West Bank settlement
of Immanuel on Tuesday. Palestinians
dressed as Israeli soldiers detonated a
roadside bomb near the bus and then
sprayed the passengers with gunfire as
they tried to flee. At least eight people
were killed and at least 16 were
wounded.

7/19
2002

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