-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Britain and Israel in furious row as Blair peace talks are scuppered Ewen MacAskill and Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Monday January 06 2003 The Guardian The British and Israeli governments were engaged in a full-scale row yesterday after Ariel Sharon banned Palestinians from attending a peace conference in London next week. The conference, a pet project of Tony Blair, is now almost certain to be postponed. Mr Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, who controls the movement of all Palestinians in and out of the West Bank and Gaza, imposed the travel ban as part of punishment measures after suicide bombings killed 22 in Tel Aviv on Sunday. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, had fiery exchanges with his Israeli counterpart, Binyamin Netanyahu, yesterday morning. Mr Netanyahu further inflamed the situation by publishing extracts of the private conversation between the two men, an unusual breach of diplomatic etiquette. The row marks a distinct cooling in British-Israeli relations. Until now, Israel has viewed Mr Blair as being one of their few dependable supporters in Europe. A delegation of six Palestinians was invited to the Foreign Office residence at Carlton Gardens for a two-day conference next Monday and Tuesday to discuss reform of the Palestinian authority, including how to clamp down on militant groups. Also invited were representatives from the US, the UN, the EU, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. Mr Straw, angry that Israel had not informed him of the decision, which he had only heard about on the radio news, called Mr Netanyahu to express his regret at the ban. He asked Mr Netanyahu to reconsider but there is little expectation that Israel will back down. Mr Netanyahu, according to the Israeli transcript, told Mr Straw that the bombings ruled out "business as usual" and he urged Britain to adopt the position of the US president, George Bush, "that leaders compromised by terror cannot be partners for peace". He added: "You in Britain are doing the exact opposite." Mr Straw countered, according to the transcript: "No, it is Israel that is doing the opposite. Instead of concentrating on dealing with terrorism, it is striking at [Palestinian] delegates." The Foreign Office took the line that it was a private conversation and it would not be commenting on the details of what took place. Mr Straw, in a speech later, said the conference was in the interests of Israelis as well as Palestinians because security was on the agenda. He phoned the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, to inform him of the ban but Washington is unlikely to intervene to put pressure on Israel because it had little interest in the conference in the first place. Mr Netanyahu, elaborating on the ban at a press conference, said: "Legitimising the sham reform efforts of Arafat's regime will, in effect, legitimise a Palestinian leadership compromised by terror. Not only has the Palestinian Authority failed to fight terrorism, Arafat's own Fatah and Tanzim forces proudly took credit for yesterday's savage attack, and for many other atrocities over the last two years." Jonathon Peled, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said: "Tony Blair's initiative is something we accepted half-heartedly. We were not invited to it and we had our reservations." The idea of a Palestinian conference emerged from a promise by Mr Blair in the autumn to try to help find a settlement to the conflict. Mr Blair has a genuine interest in trying to end the confrontation but the conference is also intended to temper criticism in the Arab world and within his own Labour party that it is wrong to concentrate on Iraq while ignoring Israel-Palestine. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
