Mustapha Karkouti: Israel stomps all over Quartet's road map

It is historically and commonly known that the United States is the world power which Israel listens to most, and it is increasingly felt among the Quartet's members that the U.S. is the only power that can save the so-called "road map" if, and when, the administration so wishes.

The Quartet, composed of the United Nations, the U.S., the European Union and Russia, has produced - on the request of President George Walker Bush - a road map to politically solve the Palestine question in stages, built on a performance and trust basis, to avoid the fate of previous peace plans and ensure its success.

For the U.S. to seriously show that it really cares, Bush's government should make its position absolutely clear on the moves ahead in the next few days, or weeks to push forward and announce the desperately awaited declaration of the final agreement on the road map.

On the request of the administration, the rest of the Quartet members have delayed the declaration made on December 20. This has come about as a result of Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon's demand to postpone the declaration till after the Israeli general elections.

Now that these elections are done with, Israel is making new demands which, if accepted by the Bush administration as many believe, will kill the road map once and for all. A senior Israeli official, Dov Weisglass, has been to Washington to discuss these demands. He has already met U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Israel's leading newspaper Haaretz reported last week that Sharon is seeking "more than 100 changes to the road map." Sharon appointed an inter-ministerial team, headed by his bureau chief attorney Weisglass, to draft the Israeli response to the road map. The team includes representatives from the Israeli army, Shin Bet security services, defence and foreign ministries.

In his opening remarks to the London meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee on Human-itarian Aid to the Palestinians last week, UN Special Coordinator to the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen expressed his and the other Quartet's members impatience and frustration.

Progress toward that solution hinges on actions that Israel must take in the coming days, Roed-Larsen suggested. "For Israel," the UN envoy said, "progress depends on whether a new government is formed that embraces President Bush's June 24 speech and the only realistic and viable plan for its implementation - the road map."

In his June 24 speech, the U.S. President envisioned a two-state solution, a secured Israel and democratic and independent Palestine living side by side. The road map was meant to translate this vision into a joint plan by the Quartet.

This plan makes demands of both Israel and the Palestinians and includes three stages: a ceasefire and establishment of Palestinian institutions, declaration of a state with provisional borders by the end of this year, and a permanent agreement between Israel and Palestine by 2005.

Though Sharon has accepted the principles of the Bush speech, he is now asking to make "corrections" to the road map, and has instructed the newly formed Israeli body to draft his version of the peace plan. The U.S. has so far rejected demands by the EU, UN and Arab states to declare the road map.

The new demands of the Israelis centred on an unfounded accusation that the road map's authors tilted toward the Palestinians. In fact, this is an accusation of the American position as well as that of the others, since the U.S. is the key partner of the Quartet and its senior officials have been actively involved in shaping the final resolution of the road map.

The new Israeli demands are a receipe for disaster since they aim to change not only the framework of the road map, but also the substance and basis of any credible peace agreement.

For example, under a plan presented by Israel's Foreign Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jewish state wants the Palestinians to state explicitly, even before any form of negotiations, that they give up the Right of Return of Palestinian refugees. He said the refugee problem has to be resolved, but the road map "must make clear that no refugee is returned to Israel proper," i.e. to 1948 borders.

The Israeli "corrections" cover many other areas and issues, including security, Palestine National Authority reforms, Palestinian sovereignty, a time-table for implementing the road map, the language and phraseology of the plan.

The Israelis want to erase any reference to the Saudi peace initiative, adopted by Beirut's Arab League summit in March 2002, which is mentioned in the introduction to the road map as one of the international documents supporting the peace agreement with Israel.

The Israelis want the declaration postponed till after the completion of the reform process and a change of the Palestinian leadership in order to deprive Palestinian President Yasser Arafat international legitimacy.

Sharon and Netanyahu demand that the question of Palestinian sovereignty should be made clear, limited and demilitarised, and completely under Israeli control: from air, land and sea.

Palestinians, according to this demand, would be absolutely forbidden to form alliances with other states considered as Israel's enemies.

These are only a few in the long list of Israeli "corrections" presented to the U.S. administration. And now it is up to this administration to decide whether Israel is playing another tactical game to postpone, yet again, a desperately needed resolution to end Palestinian suffering and Israel's agony. A U.S. "kiss of life" is the only thing that can save the road map.

The writer is the former president, Foreign Press Association in London. The writer can be contacted at mkarkouti@gulfnews.com