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The European Union, Russian and United Nations special Mideast envoys met in Ramallah Tuesday with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser
Arafat to prepare for a number of meetings on Palestinian reform and the road map scheduled for next week in London.
One European diplomatic official said that the three, Miguel Moratinos from the EU, Andrei Vdovin from Russia, and Terje Roed-Larsen from the
UN, paid the joint visit on Arafat and asked him to "take bold decisions, and push for security reform in the PA."
The US, by contrast, has not sent a senior representative to meet with Arafat since President George W. Bush's June 24 speech in which he said the PA must be reformed.
The PA official denied that the EU and UN envoys were working on another initiative to supplement the Quartet's road map.
With the US-European rift widening over Iraq, there has been some concern in
Jerusalem that the Europeans will want to "go it alone" and try to present their own initiative on the Israel-Palestinian situation.
"There is no new initiative," the official said. "It is simply not the case. We know the current situation in Israel, and we know about the
situation Iraq. We just want to prepare for the London meetings so we can to push things forward."
Three meetings are scheduled for February 18 and 19th in London. The first is a meting of what is known as the Ad Hoc Liaison committee,
which is a meeting of representatives of those countries who make up the donor community to the PA. This includes representatives from The US,
Europe, Japan, Norway and Saudi Arabia.
The next meeting will be of the Task force for Palestinian reform, a group that has met previously in Jordan and before that in London to
take stock of the steps the Palestinians have taken towards reform. This group includes the Quartet members - the US, EU, UN, and Russia - as
well as Japan, Norway and both Israeli and Palestinian representatives.
And the final meeting in London next week will be a meeting at envoy level of the Quartet. The EU, UN and Russia will be represented by Moratinos, Larsen and Vdovin, while the US is to represented by US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns.
Although the EU had hoped to make public the road map after the elections on January 28, they have now agreed to put this off until after a new government is formed. The London Quartet meeting, according to one European diplomat official, will be a chance for the representatives to evaluate where the sides stand on the road map, and
see how it can be pushed forward.
In a related development former foreign minister Shimon Peres said that there is currently a readiness among the Palestinians for reform and a
willingness to appoint a prime minister. Peres said Israel should allow the convening of the relevant Palestinian bodies needed to pave the way
for the appointment of a prime minister to replace Arafat, which would be a true test of whether the Palestinians are sincere about genuine
reform.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1044938401579
Arafat to prepare for a number of meetings on Palestinian reform and the road map scheduled for next week in London.
One European diplomatic official said that the three, Miguel Moratinos from the EU, Andrei Vdovin from Russia, and Terje Roed-Larsen from the
UN, paid the joint visit on Arafat and asked him to "take bold decisions, and push for security reform in the PA."
The US, by contrast, has not sent a senior representative to meet with Arafat since President George W. Bush's June 24 speech in which he said the PA must be reformed.
The PA official denied that the EU and UN envoys were working on another initiative to supplement the Quartet's road map.
With the US-European rift widening over Iraq, there has been some concern in
Jerusalem that the Europeans will want to "go it alone" and try to present their own initiative on the Israel-Palestinian situation.
"There is no new initiative," the official said. "It is simply not the case. We know the current situation in Israel, and we know about the
situation Iraq. We just want to prepare for the London meetings so we can to push things forward."
Three meetings are scheduled for February 18 and 19th in London. The first is a meting of what is known as the Ad Hoc Liaison committee,
which is a meeting of representatives of those countries who make up the donor community to the PA. This includes representatives from The US,
Europe, Japan, Norway and Saudi Arabia.
The next meeting will be of the Task force for Palestinian reform, a group that has met previously in Jordan and before that in London to
take stock of the steps the Palestinians have taken towards reform. This group includes the Quartet members - the US, EU, UN, and Russia - as
well as Japan, Norway and both Israeli and Palestinian representatives.
And the final meeting in London next week will be a meeting at envoy level of the Quartet. The EU, UN and Russia will be represented by Moratinos, Larsen and Vdovin, while the US is to represented by US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns.
Although the EU had hoped to make public the road map after the elections on January 28, they have now agreed to put this off until after a new government is formed. The London Quartet meeting, according to one European diplomat official, will be a chance for the representatives to evaluate where the sides stand on the road map, and
see how it can be pushed forward.
In a related development former foreign minister Shimon Peres said that there is currently a readiness among the Palestinians for reform and a
willingness to appoint a prime minister. Peres said Israel should allow the convening of the relevant Palestinian bodies needed to pave the way
for the appointment of a prime minister to replace Arafat, which would be a true test of whether the Palestinians are sincere about genuine
reform.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1044938401579