Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday he would take advantage of a "new era of peace and hope" to prove to Israel he is serious about implementing the reforms needed to resume peace talks and bring about Palestinian statehood. Ending his first visit to Western Europe since his election in January, Abbas said he was satisfied with the strong backing shown by the European Union and the world community. "Now we are talking about a new era of peace and hope," Abbas told reporters at EU headquarters. "I hope this support will continue. ... Let's be optimistic." In contrast to Yasser Arafat, who was shunned by Israel and the United States in recent years, Abbas is embraced as a moderate who genuinely wants to end the fighting that broke out in 2000, derailing a peace effort that had appeared close to establishing a Palestinian state. The current Israeli government of Ariel Sharon seems unlikely to repeat the far-reaching territorial offers that were on the table then, and trust between the two peoples has eroded significantly. Still, Abbas has called for peace talks to resume, and Israel is proceeding with plans to pull all troops and settlers out of Gaza and part of the West Bank in coming months a bold move which, coinciding with the change at the Palestinian helm, has yielded a marked improvement in atmosphere.
That hopefulness was evident Tuesday in London, where Abbas promised to reform the unwieldy Palestinian security apparatus to effectively clamp down on anti-Israel violence, and to end the corruption and inefficiency that have angered Palestinians and cost the Palestinian Authority considerable credibility abroad. Although he had made the pledge before, the declaration, in front of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other top officials, was viewed as significant. For Europeans, the event also served their purpose of carving out a greater role in international and especially Middle East affairs.
Also yesterday, for the first time since last Friday's bombing in Tel Aviv, leading Israeli and Palestinian representatives held talks. Israeli Deputy Premier Shimon Peres and Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan discussed mainly economic issues related to Israel's planned Gaza pullout next summer, Israeli reports said. Peres had stressed that Israel's pullout would prompt economic and security improvements for both sides, while Dahlan said Palestinians must be given hope and be able to live safely.