By HELENE COOPER
Published: September 21, 2007
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept. 20 — In the diplomatic world, words can mean everything — or nothing.
With two lines in an otherwise routine news conference, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, cut to the heart of the divide between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as the Bush administration struggled to come up with a plan for peace negotiations in the Middle East.
The big peace conference that President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are planning for mid-November, Mr. Abbas said, must tackle the politically sensitive "final status" issues that have bedeviled peace negotiators since 1979. Dispensing with all the diplomatic niceties that American officials have been using to try to calm the fears of skittish Israelis who are uneasy about tackling the big issues, Mr. Abbas spelled out the Palestinian, and in many ways American, aims for the meeting.
Mr. Abbas called for discussions on "borders, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, water and security." With Ms. Rice, her demeanor bland, standing next to him in a cavernous room in Yasir Arafat's old Muqata compound, Mr. Abbas said, "We believe that the time is ripe for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and for living side by side in security and tranquillity with the State of Israel."
He chided American officials for being too ambiguous, and explained that part of the reason that Arab countries had not rushed to endorse the conference — with the United States expected to be host at a site yet to be determined — was because no one had promised in plain English that the conference would tackle final status issues. "I believe there is a need for clarification," he said. "That's the duty of the inviting party to the conference."
His blunt words were a far cry from the purposely ambiguous diplo-speak that Ms. Rice has been engaging in as she has sought to drag Israel to the table for meaningful talks. She has discussed finding "a common set of principles" toward a "political horizon," to "support and advance the negotiations" along the "bilateral track."
"Because after all," she told reporters, in a phrase that left most scratching their heads, "the bilateral track has to be at the center of any resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."
Israeli officials are wary of committing to negotiating final status issues before their security concerns are met. While Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has grown more comfortable in his talks with Mr. Abbas, the Israeli public remains highly skeptical that the Palestinians, who elected the rejectionist Hamas Party, are serious about coexistence.
Despite Israel's withdrawal of all its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, Qassam rockets are shot routinely into the country from Gaza. As a result, Israeli leaders are loath to discuss at the conference the removal of West Bank settlements. And forget about Jerusalem, which both sides seek as their capital; Israeli officials are not eager to put the status of Jerusalem on the table at a big conference attended by everybody from Saudi Arabia to Britain to Russia, either.
The closest the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, would come this week was to express the need for finding "commonalities" between Israelis and Palestinians. "Of course we would like to end the conflict right away," Ms. Livni said. But, she added, "It's important to find what is the common denominator."
After a meeting on Thursday with Ms. Rice in Tel Aviv, Mr. Olmert offered similar assurances. He told Ms. Rice that Israel "wanted to make a positive contribution to a successful meeting and was eager that the meeting be attended by many moderate Arab states," said a spokesman for Mr. Olmert, David Baker.
American officials say that it is not that the Israelis don't want to tackle the hard stuff. It's more that Israeli officials, in particular former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is now defense minister, remember President Clinton's push for a comprehensive peace accord in 2000 between Mr. Barak and Mr. Arafat. That push failed and led, many Israelis believe, to the second Palestinian intifada. Israelis now are reluctant to make another big peace push without the assurance that it will yield results.
Both sides are working on some kind of document to bridge the gap, and Ms. Rice said she would be heading back to the region in a few weeks to prod some more. And then probably again before the November conference.
Aboard her flight back to Washington, she reflected on the six visits she has made this year to Israel to get a peace plan going, including the evolution of the language she has used to describe what she is up to.
Back in February, she noted, she began using "the very carefully guided phrase 'political horizon.' "
"I know there was some skepticism about the term 'political horizon' and what it meant," she said. "But it gave an umbrella where they could discuss issues they hadn't discussed in six years."
"Now," she said, the two sides are "openly saying they'll discuss 'core issues.' "
Israel Ends West Bank Operation
In Nablus, in the West Bank, Israeli forces yesterday concluded a three-day operation in a large refugee camp, Ein Beit Ilma, capturing three men who the Israeli Army said were "Hamas terrorists planning a suicide bombing."
The men were said to be part of a cell that also included members of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. An army spokesman, Capt. Benjamin Rutland, said the three men "admitted to planning a terrorist attack" and included a potential suicide bomber.
Since Tuesday, more than 35 Palestinians have been arrested and the camp has been under curfew.
In central Gaza, Israeli troops operating against rocket-launching teams killed a 17-year-old Palestinian, Mahmoud Kasasi, who was hit by shrapnel from a tank shell and then run over by an army bulldozer, according to the Gazan Health Ministry. Three other Palestinians were killed in the operation, Reuters reported.
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Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
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