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No us israel palestinian statehood rift Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Feb. 21, 2003
PM bureau chief: No rift between Israel, US on 'roadmap' plan
By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF
Dov Weisglass, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau chief who headed the Israeli delegation to Washington concerning the US's financial aid to Israel, on Friday said that contrary to media reports, there was no rift between the US and Israeli administrations on the implementation of President Bush's roadmap plan for Palestinian statehood.
Weisglass did confirm, however, that the delegation has returned to Israel without any substantial assurances from the US. He said the delegation's early return came following American demands for clarification on the government's proposed budget cuts and reforms of capital management.
After the Americans received the desired clarifications, he said, the Israeli request will be passed on to Congress for approval.
Media reports have tied the US's granting of financial aid to Israel with its equivocal acceptance of the roadmap plan.
Weisglass, who chairs the team drafting Israel's response to the road map, said this week Israel's objections center around the issue of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's role in the PA and the question of who will determine when each of the various phases of the three-stage road map has concluded and it is possible to move on to the next stage.
Weisglass said the road map must be seen as the practical implementation of President George W. Bush's June 24 speech, and that it will not include anything not included in the speech, or take out any of the principles Bush included in his 17-minute address.
As such, Israel wants to see more detail about the steps the Palestinians have to take to stop terror and implement reform.
Weisglass said that there was no connection between talks on the road map and Israeli aid discussions. "They are two separate channels."
He dismissed as inaccurate a report in the daily Ha'aretz which said Israel had proposed 100 changes to the road map. "The number of substantive changes is much smaller than 100," Weisglass said after meeting Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
The Quartet's envoys William Burns from the US, Miguel Moratinos from the EU, Andrei Vdovin from Russia, and Terje Roed-Larsen from the UN expressed in their statement at the end of the London meeting "very serious concern at the continuing acts of violence and terror planned and directed against Israelis, and at Israeli military operations over the past several days in the West Bank and Gaza which led to Palestinian civilian fatalities."
The Quartet called for "an immediate, comprehensive cease-fire," and said "all Palestinian individuals and groups must end all acts of terror against Israelis, in any location." The Quartet applauded Arafat's decision to appoint a prime minister, saying it is "a significant step," but added that this prime minister must be "credible and fully empowered."
The Quartet further called for Palestinians to convene the "relevant legislative and executive Palestinian bodies" in order to appoint a prime minister, and called on Israel to "facilitate these meetings." The Quartet said that Israel's resumption of monthly revenue transfers to the PA served an "important role in facilitating the Palestinian reform process," but called on Israel to do more, "consistent with legitimate security concerns," to ease the Palestinians' "dire humanitarian and socioeconomic situation."
(With Herb Keinon and Janine Zacharia)
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