Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - THE ROAD MAP FOR PEACE
CLICK HERE to read the FULL TEXT of the ROAD MAP
--To Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- Read here on The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict published by Jews for Justice in the Middle East ( in .pdf file - need Acrobat Reader)
- Read here Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict - A Primer by The Middle East Research and Information Project
- Read here United Nations Document " History of the Palestinian Problem"
Latest news on the progress in the implementation of the Road Map
US Secretary of State Colin Powell held talks yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmud Abbas, saying the time was ripe for the immediate implementation of the international road map for peace. The plan, drafted by top EU, Russian, UN and US officials, was handed to the two sides on April 30.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was suggesting Tuesday that he will try to hold on to much of the West Bank's heartland. Israeli control over those areas would make it extremely difficult to establish a territorially contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank, a goal of the U.S.-backed plan, the so-called "road map" to Mideast peace. Sharon spoke after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell failed to win Israel's acceptance of a new Mideast peace plan. Sharon said Israel would hold on to some settlements in the heart of the West Bank, citing three by name - Beit El, Ariel and Emmanuel.
It was an “historic moment”, said Colin Powell during his visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. But as soon as Powell left on Monday May 12th, things had begun to unravel. Mr Powell was told by Israeli ministers they could not accept the road map as it was. Economist.com reports: From Israel, Mr Powell did receive several promises to relax the army’s punishing regime in the West Bank and Gaza, which has reduced much of the Palestinian population to poverty. Some 25,000 permits will be issued to Palestinians to work in Israel and 180 Palestinian prisoners are to be released. But by the time Mr Powell arrived in Egypt on Monday, Israel had reimposed a travel ban on people moving in and out of Gaza, citing “security concerns”.Palestinians had been quick to point out that the permits are largely meaningless as long as Israel prevents Palestinians travelling between the West Bank cities.
From the Palestinians, Mr Powell won a reluctant agreement that Mr Abbas would meet Mr Sharon, probably on May 16th. The new Palestinian prime minister had previously maintained that any meeting with Mr Sharon was conditional on Israel accepting the road map. Mr Abbas publicly urged Mr Powell to press Israel to end the construction of settlements, lift the closures and free the PA’s president, Yasser Arafat, from effective imprisonment in his headquarters in Ramallah.
Meanwhile, the violence continues. On Sunday, an Israeli died in a Palestinian ambush on a settler road just outside Ramallah, the second killing in the area in less than a week. On Monday, two Palestinian militants were killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza, and in a separate incident a Palestinian farmer was killed by troops guarding a Jewish settlement.
More blood is sure to have been spilled by the time Mr Bush gets to pick up where Mr Powell left off, by continuing to urge Mr Sharon to start withdrawing from the West Bank cities, stop building settlements and end incursions into Palestinian areas.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas will meet for the first time on May 16, a Palestinian official said on Monday. A senior diplomat confirmed the date of the meeting, which follows talks held by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell with Israelis and Palestinians to promote a peace plan to end 31 months of violence. Neither source mentioned a venue.
The lobby against the U.S.-backed road map for Middle East peace, spearheaded by lawmakers from right-wing parties and by the Yesha council of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, is stepping up its activities aimed at stymieing the initiative. The Yesha Council, whose opposition to the road map is well known , published a particularly harshly-worded condemnation of the plan on Saturday. The council is demanding that the government state explicitly that "the settler movement is moral and just, and is an expression of the Jewish people's eternal connection to its historical homeland."
Just one day after an apparent breakthrough in the new Middle East push for peace, Israel has reimposed its ban on Palestinians and other foreigners entering or leaving the Gaza Strip. Yesterday's clampdown effectively froze Israel's decision on Sunday to allow 25,000 Palestinian labourers to enter the country. That decision, along with the promised release of 180 Palestinian detainees, followed a request by the visiting United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell, for conciliatory gestures towards the Palestinians even before Israel endorses the peace "road map".
For Israeli settlers, the current road map peace outline, as co-sponsored and endorsed by the Bush administration, bears uncomfortable echoes of the Oslo agreement, particularly in a clause that specifies that as part of an initial phase, the government of Israel will "immediately dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001" and "freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)" - this last a reference to settler demands that they be able to continue to build housing to provide for the future needs of their children. Of late, settlement leaders have stepped up their opposition to efforts to remove any settlements, even vulnerable, nearly unpopulated isolated enclaves. Settlers make no secret of their belief that settlements are a bulwark in any effort to block the rise of a Palestinian state, which they oppose as a mortal security risk to the future of Israel. As a result, said dovish opposition leader Yossi Sarid, "The settlements are multiplying and expanding every single day. You can see it in pictures, and you can see in on the ground."
Powell's visit was widely seen as unsuccessful. Mr. Powell was forced to admit that he had made little progress on the outposts issue. He said it would be discussed further during Mr. Sharon's visit to the US. According to the road map drawn up by the US, the European Union, Russian and the United Nations, the several dozen outposts established by zealous settlers without cabinet approval and with little Israeli public support should be "immediately" emptied. "The strategy of Sharon is to lead the road map to a funeral without mentioning the date of the funeral, to have it die a gradual death." says Wadie Abu Nassar, a Haifa-based political analyst. "He is very happy with the current status quo, he controls everything, the Palestinians are weak, he has no domestic opposition and he still thinks the Palestinians can be weakened by force and that they will have to accept Israeli demands."
Egypt has said that Israeli humanitarian gestures to Palestinians are meaningless and that the Jewish state needs to accept and begin implementing a "road map" for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Ahmad Mr Maher, the Egyptian Foreign Minister said Israel must adopt the road map and also make the lives of Palestinians easier - mirroring a demand Mr Powell made in talks in Israel on Sunday. Israel had said the Palestinians could expect nothing more than modest humanitarian gestures until a new Palestinian government cracked down on militants spearheading an uprising for independence.
Colin Powell sidestepped obstacles to the formal launch of the long awaited "road map" for the creation of a Palestinian state and settled for minor confidence-building measures in meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders yesterday. Mr Powell by-passed difficult issues such as new Israeli demand that the Palestinians renounce the right of return for refugees before negotiations begin.
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