By Munir K. Nasser
Chief Correspondent, Washington, DC
Albawaba.com
Using unusually direct and strongly worded criticism, a State Department official said Israel must restrain its use of force and end economic restrictions against Palestinians.
The official told Albawaba.com that the cycle of violence must be broken between Israel and the Palestinians. “To the Israelis, this means withdrawing their forces to positions prior to the onset of the crisis, ending the economic restrictions against Palestinians, and restraining their use of force,” he stressed.
The official said that the cycle of violence “deepened the tragedy” both for the Palestinians and the Israelis. “More than 300 people have now been killed in the violence, the vast majority of them are Palestinians. We are deeply saddened by the loss of life. The violence destroys lives, devastates families, ruins economic aspirations, and worsens the level of mistrust between the two communities that have no choice but to live side by side,” he said.
The official also urged the Palestinians to end shooting against Israelis, and called on them to “creating buffers between the demonstrators and the IDF, ending incitement to violence, and arresting those responsible for terrorism, regardless of which organization they belong to.”
When asked what changes are expected from the new Bush administration in terms of continuity in the peace process, the official declined to speculate on what they may or may not do. He said the United States relationship with Israel and US efforts in the Middle East process “have spanned various administrations, both Democratic and Republican. And those strategic interests are not expected to change.”
The official confirmed, however, that Middle East Special Envoy Dennis Ross has already announced publicly that he is going to resign. He said Ross is expected to offer his resignation as all other political appointees when the new administration takes over. He said it is not clear whether Ross will actually stay if President-elect Bush asks him to remain on for a short period of time. He noted that would be decided as the new secretary of state comes on board.
The official denied that new peace proposals or initiatives were discussed between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Dennis Ross in Morocco this week. He said the focus of the meeting was “how to stabilize the current situation and to create a bridge back to peace making. We will continue to urge both parties to do whatever they can to end the violence and restore calm and find the way back to the negotiating table.”
He said the State Department has nothing to announce in terms of further travel to the region or any last efforts in the Clinton administration to sign a peace agreement, including a last minute trip by President Clinton. “Whatever the parties are interested in us doing, we will be happy to assist them,” he said.
According to Administration sources who spoke to Albawaba.com, all political appointees of the Clinton Administration have to submit their resignations by law on January 20th, and whether it is accepted or not, is up to the new administration. At this point, it is not clear who is going or who is staying until the transition team makes their wishes known.
The sources said Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Pickering would be leaving the Department when the new administration comes in. They confirmed that most of the principal players and some of the assistant secretaries of state are going to change. Traditionally, many Department officials, including ambassadors, have changed at every administration change, especially when the Party in power changes.
In a related development, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Edward
Walker said he held long and intense discussions with Tunisian President Zein El Abdeen Ben Ali on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iraq and the proposed Maghreb economic union involving Tunisia,
Algeria and Morocco.
After his meeting with Ben Ali in Tunis on Thursday, Walker told reporters he discussed with him
“the very difficult situation that we are facing in the Palestinian area, between Palestinians and
Israelis, the violence, the necessity to bring the violence down and to return to negotiations.”
“The President gave me some advice on ideas that we might use to help the Palestinians eliminate the sanctions against them, the closures, and to bring the violence to a close,” he said.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
