STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Any thoughts on this????? Bush Sending CIA Chief to Mideast http://www.lycos.com/m.asp?n11 Reuters Jun 05, 2001 02:54 p.m. PDT E-mail or Print this story - - - - - WASHINGTON -- President Bush, signaling a more active role in mediation between Israel and the Palestinians, on Tuesday decided to send CIA Director George Tenet to the Middle East to build on a cease-fire. Tenet will leave late Tuesday and arrive in the Middle East on Wednesday, U.S. officials said. He will stay several days, visiting Israel's Arab neighbors as well as Israel and possibly the Palestinian territories, they added. It will be the Central Intelligence Agency director's first trip to the region since he went in October last year. Under the administration of former President Bill Clinton he played a key role in helping the sides work out security arrangements. SEE ALSO: Everybody's got issues in Politics Bush said: "We believe enough progress has been made on the cease-fire that it is time to send George Tenet to the Middle East to start serious discussions at the security level about how to make sure that the cease-fire continues." "Once the violence has ceased, once there is a cease-fire in place, once there's strong security arrangements back in place then we can start having political discussions," he told reporters at the White House. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "We would expect him to meet with security chiefs and responsible authorities from all sides." He added "His goal this time is to assess the situation and to encourage additional security cooperation between the parties." DIPLOMATIC INITIATIVE U.S. officials had said before the trip was announced that they wanted to be sure Tenet could meet Palestinian security officials Mohammed Dahlan and Jibril al-Rajoub, who had stayed away from recent low-level security meetings. The Bush administration took over in January promising a more hands-off approach toward the region after Clinton's intense personal diplomacy, which came close to a settlement but then failed last year. It kept its distance for months while violence raged between Israel and the Palestinians. But it began a diplomatic initiative to promote proposals of an international commission led by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell last month and became more involved after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat announced a cease-fire last week. Arafat was responding to the risk of massive Israeli attacks in revenge a the suicide bombing which killed 21 people at a nightclub in Tel Aviv on Friday. Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke to Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres by telephone on Tuesday as part of a U.S. diplomatic effort to strengthen the cease-fire and push the Israelis and Palestinians toward confidence-building measures. "We've seen a lower level of violence over the past 48 hours, and we're very pleased to see that the situation appears to be headed in the right direction," Boucher said. "It is important that we see sustained actions by the parties to maintain this situation and to make the cessation of violence endure," he added. In the Middle East, Tenet will work closely with Powell's "special assistant" William Burns, who stayed on in the region after initial contacts with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last month, Boucher said. MITCHELL COMMISSION Burns has the added mission of trying to set a timetable for political measures recommended by the Mitchell commission. The commission suggested that Israel ease the restrictions on Palestinians, stop all settlement activity and resume talks with the Palestinians on the future of the West bank and Gaza. Tenet, who over the years has established fairly good relations with Israeli and Palestinian officials, had played a key role in brokering security talks by Clinton. President Bush at first decided to stop sending Tenet to security cooperation talks between Israelis and Palestinians, and tried instead to have them deal directly with each other. Lower-ranking CIA officials, however, have been involved in meeting with both sides this year with the goal of stopping eight months of violence that has claimed hundreds of lives. Asked why the Bush administration has now changed its mind on high-level CIA engagement, Boucher said: "There's different leadership in Israel. There's a different situation on the ground... I don't think it should surprise you that where we have people who can work on the security situation, like Director Tenet, that they would get involved." In his latest contacts with the leaders on Monday, Powell asked Arafat to arrest extremists and Sharon to maintain his policy of abstaining from revenge attacks on Palestinians. Boucher said he did not know if Arafat had ordered any arrest since speaking to Powell. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. Have a comment on this article? Send it. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
