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| Israel-Palestine |
| Britain to host Mid-East peace summit (Jan/Feb) |
| 2004-12-06 |
| Britain has won American agreement to hold an international peace conference on the Middle East in London early next year, The Telegraph has learned. The meeting, planned for late January or early February, is likely to be attended by foreign ministers. But it is not yet clear that Israel will send a delegation at that level. If it does not attend, the conference is expected to go ahead with the Palestinian, Arab, American and European participants. Tony Blair will discuss the details with Israeli and Palestinian leaders when he visits the Middle East this month. Washington appeared to pour cold water on the idea at first when the Prime Minister met President George W Bush last month. But the plan has been quietly revived and now has America's blessing. Senior diplomatic sources say that preparations for the conference now dominate foreign policy discussions between the US and Britain and are at the heart of attempts to heal the transatlantic divisions caused by the war in Iraq. Even hard-line supporters of Israel in the Bush administration appear to accept the idea of a conference as a means of shoring up the new Palestinian leadership after the Jan 9 ballot to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat, who died last month. The conference will probably be announced only after the ballot and will depend on the election of the front-runner, Mahmoud Abbas, who negotiated the Oslo accords. The challenge by the populist Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouti, who has said he will stand for election from his Israeli prison cell, could upset Britain's plans. Washington, which has demanded that the Palestinians choose a new leadership "not tainted with terrorism", is unlikely to deal with a man serving five life sentences for masterminding attacks that killed four Israelis and a Greek monk. Blimey. He only snuffed one Greek monk and a handful of Jews. What's a guy gotta do to get a little bit of forgiveness round here? After all, how many world leaders can honestly say they never got up one morning, went out, and murdered a bunch of random strangers? |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #14 Expect more of these make-believe show "conferences", "summits" etc on a host of issues, not just Isr-Pal. This is the tribute we're expected to pay PC polite world opinion, represented by Blair above all other leaders, for having been so arrogant as to re-elect Bush. So we can expect another summit to revise Kyoto, a conference to reform the UN (ie do nothing), more summits on African debt relief etc. Sound and fury, signifying f-all.... |
| Posted by: lex 2004-12-06 6:30:37 PM |
| #13 Andrea-a study was done and everyone in the international community agrees-it's a 5-figure gig. ;) |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2004-12-06 6:03:20 PM |
| #12 I agree with Capt America BIG YAWN. There will always be trouble over there- no matter who is in office. Too many cooks in the kitchen and the pot is always boiling. # 11 Jules 187 you are so right...but where do you come up with $50,000.00- DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOUR BACK SIDE. RUN DONT WALK. ANdrea |
| Posted by: andrea 2004-12-06 5:46:21 PM |
| #11 Amen, BAR. NO SUPPORT until Pallies stop all attacks inside Israel. Measurably. Period. I saw today that Musharraf is yapping about root causes again, poverty, ignorance, blah blah blah. So are jihadis too stupid to know it's wrong to kill innocents, too poor to know it's wrong to kill innocents, or indifferent to killing innocents because what matters to them is superlative barbarity when proving the strength of their religious faith? How many of the 19 hijackers were poor and ignorant? How many were educated, financially secure, and rabid zealots? End of conference. My fee is $50,000. Here's the door. Click. |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2004-12-06 5:23:17 PM |
| #10 Big yawn! So the brits have a whack at it, so much the better. Wake me up when there's real news. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-12-06 5:08:28 PM |
| #9 Instead, America and Israel want a businesslike meeting to focus on "practical issues" such as rebuilding Palestinian security services and providing financial support for Palestinians after Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip next year. Wait a minute - hoooold everything!! "Financial support"???? NO. Not until the Paleo "leadership" takes solid steps toward reforming their whole society. They know what these steps are, and nothing else needs to be said about the matter until some action on their part is seen. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-12-06 12:49:54 PM |
| #8 'Britain to host Mid-East peace summit (Jan/Feb) Lex makes a good point , but Mid-East , Peace and summit all in the same sentence , nah !! I dont beleive it ! hosted by us infidels , no arab is gonna take this seriously . Expect a walk out after day one of Israel bashing . |
| Posted by: MacNails 2004-12-06 11:24:56 AM |
| #7 I am sorry to say it, but there will be still so many conferences about this issue in the future that their count would make your head spin. |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2004-12-06 7:02:50 AM |
| #6 Payback for support for Iraq. Fitting that it's timed for right around the Iraqi elections as well. Let's hope Bush's people turn this into a PR victory for us: two free elections for the first time in the muslim middle east, and neither would have happened without pressure by the Bush admin. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-12-06 6:49:09 AM |
| #5 This kind of international brokering is more effective when there are no outside parties organizing the negotiations, especially, I'm afraid, European ones. Tony means well, but this kind of thing is a set-up where everybody gangs up on Israel. There is no point in negotiating anything until the Arab parties are serious about actually accepting Israel's right to exist within viable borders (the Green Line does not meet that criterion), with no right of return for the Palestinians, and are willing to negotiate a real peace treaty (not a mere cessation of hostilities, ie hudna) on that basis. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-12-06 6:45:44 AM |
| #4 The Phoney Tony Conference. You're welcome, Tony. Happy now? |
| Posted by: lex 2004-12-06 6:15:11 AM |
| #3 The Vanse conference. |
| Posted by: gromgorru 2004-12-06 6:06:27 AM |
| #2 Should get em all smokin hookah pipes in a cafe on the Edgware Rd... soon sort it out. |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2004-12-06 5:49:50 AM |
| #1 Looks like a carrot to the Paleos to induce them to elect Abbas. My money's still on Barghouti. That cell is going to get pretty crowded. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-12-06 5:33:23 AM |