The United States is not planning to renew its mediation efforts in the Middle East at this time, reported Haaretz newspaper, quoting an American source as saying Wednesday.
"The US administration believes that any attempt to intervene at this time, in an effort to bring the Israelis and Palestinians closer, may backfire and the chances for success are small," the source said.
As such, the US has accepted the arguments posed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to US President Bill Clinton during a telephone conversation earlier this week, in which he requested that the Americans avoid direct mediation at this time, allowing for direct contacts between the two sides in an effort to minimize the levels of violence in the territories, said the paper.
The US administration also turned down the proposals of Israel's Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, and Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, who suggested, during recent visits to Washington, that Clinton visit the Middle East, and hold a summit aiming to achieve a final status agreement before his term in office ends on January 20, the paper added.
"Before any progress can be made, a higher level of trust and cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians is needed. Holding another summit, given the low level of trust, has little chance of success, even when compared to the Camp David summit. Then, there was also a low level of trust between the two sides, but certainly more than there is now," said the American source.
Over the past few days, the paper added, the US administration also sent Israel a series of reassuring messages regarding the role of the international fact-finding commission into the causes of the violence in the territories.
Both Barak and Ben-Ami went to great lengths to dissuade the Americans from allowing the commission, under the chairmanship of former Senator George Mitchell, to begin its work prior to a significant decline in the levels of violence between Palestinians and Israelis, according to Haaretz.
The commission is due to arrive in the area sometime next week.
Senior Israeli diplomatic sources said "there is no reason for concern" regarding the activities of the international fact-finding committee.
The same Israeli sources described the make-up of the commission as comfortable for Israel and added that its mandate does not leave much leeway for it to become a political weapon, which the Palestinians may use.
The terms of reference, or the official mandate, of the commission were expected in Jerusalem Wednesday.
President Clinton was expected to sign the document instructing Mitchell to embark on the fact-finding mission, said the paper.
The message from Washington to the Israeli government was that Israel had no reason to be reluctant regarding the mission of the Mitchell commission, whose purpose is to recommend ways of preventing future outbreaks of violence in the territories. What the commission has no mandate to do is act as a tribunal, which will decry Israel's position in the territories.
"The issue is a political one and it does not involve a legal inquiry into guilty parties. It is safe to assume that Israel should not worry," Ben-Ami said Wednesday.
The American source told Haaretz that "the commission will not hold any investigations in the field and will not act as a judicial tribunal. There is no intention to whitewash the problem; however, if Israel would show less concern, it would soon realize that the situation is not so dramatic."
In the meantime, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat criticized Wednesday the delay of the commission, according to AFP.
He was quoted as saying that the commission should start its work immediately before the situation in the Palestinian territories deteriorates and gets worse. The formation of the commission was agreed upon at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in October.
– (Several Sources)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
