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May 25, 2001/Sivan 3, 5761, Vol. 53, No.34
U.S. endorses Commission report
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - With pressure mounting on the Bush administration to help stop Mideast violence, Secretary of State Colin Powell is turning to three diplomatic veterans to explore American options.
The administration on May 21 endorsed the report of a five-man commission led by former Sen. George Mitchell that investigated the past eight months of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Powell said his three appointees will examine how the United States can contribute to ending the violence.
Powell announced that he was appointing William Burns, the designated assistant secretary for Near East Affairs, as a special assistant to try to renew stalled Israeli-Palestinian security talks. He also called on U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk and Ron Schlicher, the counsel general in Jerusalem, to increase their work with regional leaders toward implementing the report.
Powell said he was encouraged that both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have announced their support for the Mitchell Commission report to one degree or another.
The report outlines a three-pronged approach to rebuilding relations between the two sides - ending violence, rebuilding confidence and resuming peace negotiations. It recommends a "cooling off period" and urges both sides to condemn incitement.
The report calls for the two sides to implement an immediate cease-fire and carry out previously-signed agreements. It calls on the Palestinians to "make a 100 percent effort to prevent terrorist operations and punish perpetrators," and demands that Israel completely freeze settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including expansion of settlements to accommodate "natural growth."
Mitchell and Powell emphasized that an end to violence should not be linked to the settlement freeze or any other proposals in the report.
"We should end the violence, and none of the confidence-building measures - or all of the confidence-building measures together - are not linked to ending the violence," Powell said. "It's a very clear sequence in my mind."
Both sides have expressed at least pro forma support for the Mitchell Report. Still, the Israeli government objects to the call for a settlement freeze, though it has said it will not build new settlements.
The Palestinians say they support the report in full, and reject any Israeli attempt to amend the report or accept only parts.
David Makovsky, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he believes the Bush administration wants to be seen as helping to implement a proposal backed by the United Nations, European Union and other international players, rather than pushing its own agenda in the conflict.
Samuel Lewis, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said the Bush administration has a lot to lose by wading deep into the Middle East conflict early in its tenure. Lewis said an unsuccessful U.S. attempt to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to freeze settlement activity could send a message to the Arab world - including Iraqi President Saddam Hussein - and to leaders in hot spots like Russia and China that the United States cannot even control its closest ally.
Lewis said that the U.S. endorsement, on its own, will not change the situation in the Middle East.
"It's got to have the muscle and the energy of a U.S. administration deeply involved in flogging it over the next six or eight months, along with other players, but with our energy behind carrying it out, not just endorsing it," Lewis said. "And that, I suspect, is not very likely."
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