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AAI in the News

Abbas appeals for more US help in peace process

By Matthew Lee and Mohammed Daraghmeh (AP)
Washington Post
Posted on Thursday April 24, 2008

WASHINGTON—Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appealed to the Bush administration Wednesday for more support in peace talks with Israel that have bogged down five months after both sides pledged to reach a deal by January.

In a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ahead of talks with President Bush on Thursday, Abbas said time was running out if that target laid out at the Annapolis Conference in November was to be met and that more pressure must be exerted on Israel to stop the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

“We are serious in having a serious negotiations to reach an agreement by the end of the year, but the gaps are still wide between us and the Israelis,” he said in a speech to the Arab-American Institute after his talks with Rice.

Chief among the Palestinian complaints is Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank, a halt to which is a major component of the so-called roadmap blueprint for peace.

“I am telling you frankly that the most important obstacle to the peace process and the negotiations is the continuation of the settlement activities,” Abbas said. “Therefore, I am calling on the Israeli government to stop all settlement activities so we can hold proper meetings to reach a solution on the core issues.”

Abbas aides said he had pressed Rice for U.S. action on the matter.

“That requires American intervention,” his spokesman, Abu Rudeina, said.

Abbas is struggling for authority in the West Bank against the militant Hamas movement that controls Gaza. Bush hopes to achieve a peace deal between the Palestinians and Israel before he leaves office in January. Bush met on Wednesday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II to discuss the process.

The White House meetings are a prelude to next month’s trip by Bush to the Middle East to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel. He also is expected to visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The administration had been holding out hope it could arrange a peace summit during the visit, perhaps at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, where Bush is now set to see Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The idea was to have Arab leaders endorse an interim statement demonstrating at least some progress, officials said.

But there are deep misgivings about such a meeting among both Arabs and the Israelis, given the slow pace of negotiations, and prospects for the summit are slim, officials said.

Abbas wants a framework peace agreement by January with timetables and specifics leading to the creation of a Palestinian state and not just a “declaration of principles” as suggested by some Israel officials. He has said his talks with Bush on Thursday will focus on achieving a real deal on core issues and not just promises.

“We seek a framework agreement that includes all the core issues and how these core issues will be resolved _ and ending with the establishment of a Palestinian independent state,” Abbas said Tuesday.

The core issues remain the final borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of Jerusalem, disputed Israeli settlements, refugees, water and future relations between the two states.

The White House did not give a readout on the Bush-Abdullah meeting. The Jordanian Embassy said Abdullah, who later saw Abbas, stressed the importance of U.S. involvement and Washington’s role in overcoming obstacles to progress, particularly in pressing Israel on the settlements and easing Palestinian access.

“King Abdullah said it is important that Israel refrains from measures that would jeopardize negotiations with the Palestinians and called for an end to all Israeli settlement activities, a lifting of the blockade and restrictions on the movement of Palestinians,” the embassy said.

Rice is stepping up efforts to boost the authority of Abbas by appointing a senior State Department official to run former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Mideast office. Blair is now an envoy to the Palestinians for the international diplomatic quartet on the Middle East.

Ahead of Bush’s trip, Rice is expected to travel to Israel and the West Bank after attending a Palestinian donors’ conference that Blair is hosting in London on May 2. A ministerial meeting of the quartet _ the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia _ is expected at the same time.

Officials said the administration, which already has pledged $555 million to the Palestinians this year, was looking at slight increases to announce at the conference, but that a major boost in aid was unlikely, as Congress has not yet approved the budget.