U.S. Sets Talks With Palestinian Delegation

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 30, 2002

U.S. Sets Talks With Palestinian Delegation

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Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Sunday that he would meet with a delegation of Palestinian officials in Washington next week, the first high-level contact between the administration and the Palestinian Authority since President Bush called for a leadership change last month.

"This is part of our process of moving forward to help the Palestinian community transform itself," Powell said at a news conference during the first stop of an eight-day trip to Asia.

The decision to meet with the Palestinians marked another shift for the Bush administration. Bush has said a Palestinian state should be established within three years, but in a speech on June 24 he said that there could be no progress toward a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or an independent state until the Palestinians elected new leaders not "compromised by terror."

The upcoming talks would bring the administration's position on the peace process closer to that of its European and Arab allies, who have urged the United States to deal with the Palestinian government in place.

Senior U.S. officials have warned that if the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, is reelected in elections likely to be held in January, Palestinians risked "consequences," including extending an ongoing U.S. boycott of their leadership. That position has been criticized by the administration's international partners in the peace process as counterproductive to Palestinian reforms and as counter to the U.S. commitment to democracy.

The administration's shift is likely to be viewed as a victory for Powell. Although he has publicly supported Bush's position, and has said there are no plans to resume U.S. contact with Arafat, it has been no secret in Washington that Powell and the State Department preferred what they saw as a more balanced approach that would give the Palestinians more hope for a political solution.

While much of the discussion about Bush's June speech has focused on his call for a change in the Palestinian leadership, Powell reminded reporters traveling with him that the president also called for an end to Israel's occupation of the West Bank as soon as security allows and a halt to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Powell said these would be topics for discussion in the Washington meetings.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the delegation would include himself and the Palestinian Authority's interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, named to the job last month by Arafat. Erekat said the meeting would take place on Aug. 5 and 6.

Source: Agencies

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