-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 Bush veto on Middle East talks Humiliating rebuff for Blair initiative Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor Friday October 04 2002 The Guardian Tony Blair's drive for Middle East peace talks has suffered an embarrassing setback at the hands of the US president, George Bush, only days after the prime minister flagged up his plan at the Labour party conference in Blackpool. Mr Blair is pushing for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks, backed by an international conference, before the end the year. He has told colleagues that, with war looming in Iraq, he regards it as essential to deal with one of the main causes of Arab resentment against the west. But the Guardian has learnt that Mr Bush has blocked the initiative and has made it clear to Mr Blair that he does not want such talks to be held in the near future. Over the last fortnight Mr Blair has made two public calls for a revival of negotiations aimed at securing a final Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. He told the Commons, recalled last week to debate Iraq, that "we need a new conference on the Middle East peace" and "a massive mobilisation of energy to get the peace process moving again". On Tuesday he told the party conference that "by the year's end, we must have revived final status negotiations and they must have explicitly as their aims an Israeli state free of terror, recognised by the Arab world, and a viable Palestinian state based on the boundaries of 1967". Mr Blair has staked a great deal of political capital on his relationship with Mr Bush. But Downing Street and the Foreign Office are exasperated by the American leader's attitude. According to officials, in spite of the setback, Mr Blair is to continue to pursue the idea of peace talks over the next few months. Mr Bush's rebuff highlights a fundamental division between the US and Britain over the Middle East: the US sees dealing with Iraq as the priority whereas Britain sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the priority, either to be tackled first or, at least, alongside Iraq. A Whitehall official, describing the US and Israeli attitude towards a resumption of talks as "cool", said: "The lack of progress is poisoning everything in the region." There has been an increase in transatlantic traffic in recent weeks. Downing Street refused to disclose last night when Mr Blair last spoke to Mr Bush, saying only that there were on-going contacts at all levels. The prospect of a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian final settlement talks was raised by the Quartet group - made up of the United Nations, the US, the European Union and Russia - but no date has yet been set for the next meeting of the group. The US representative on the group is the secretary of state, Colin Powell, who shares Mr Blair's views on an urgent need for a peace conference. The outstanding issues for the final settlement talks are: the future of Jerusalem, which both Israel and the Palestinians claim as their capital; the fate of more than three million Palestinian refugees who demand a right to return to Israel; and the territorial boundary between Israel and a new Palestinian state. The Foreign Office is keen that an international conference be held in tandem to provide a fillip to the Israeli-Palestinian talks. London has been suggested as a venue for the international conference and Mr Blair as the chairman. The Israeli government reacted critically this week to the the prime minister's call for a revival of the peace conference and for all countries in the Middle East - Israel as well as Iraq - to honour United Nations resolutions. Violence continued yesterday, with Israeli police charging into one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem - known as Temple Mount to Jews and Haram as-Sharif to Muslims - after Palestinians dropped stones on Jews praying at the Western Wall. Israeli soldiers shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian boy near Jenin in the West Bank and left a 12-year-old boy critically injured. 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. 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