U.S. pushes for peace as Olmert, Bush prepare to meet

jerusalem | Ahead of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's upcoming visit to Washington, Israel and the United States are discussing ways to strengthen Palestinian moderates and jump-start a new peace process.

But the scheduled visit comes on the heels of renewed violence in the Mideast.

Israeli tank shells ripped through a residential neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Nov. 8, killing at least 18 members of an extended family, including eight children, and wounding dozens of others, the Associated Press reported.

Two days earlier, Israeli forces pulled out of the Northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, completing a weeklong sweep that killed more than 50 Palestinians, according to the Los Angeles Times. One Israeli soldier was killed and another was wounded. The Israeli government said its attacks were focused on rocket launchers.

Tensions escalated on Friday, Nov. 3, when about 200 veiled Palestinian women broke through an Israeli troop and tank cordon around a mosque in Beit Hanoun to serve as human shields for dozens of armed militants, the AP reported. The militants, some dressed in women's clothing, escaped, but two women were killed by Israeli fire and another 17 were wounded, the AP reported. An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers had spotted two male militants hiding among the women and fired at them.

Olmert is scheduled to meet with President Bush on Monday, Nov. 13. In a bid to bolster Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' more moderate Fatah party, American officials would like to see Israel release the popular jailed Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, and Israel is signaling readiness to make far-reaching moves toward a two-state solution. The tough ongoing Israeli military action in northern Gaza also is concentrating Palestinian minds.

Talk of concessions to the Palestinians and moves to bolster Palestinian moderates precede nearly every visit by an Israeli prime minister to Washington. But there are signs that this time, the carrot-and-stick policy may be working.

After a prolonged boycott of the P.A.'s radical Hamas-led government by Israel and most of the international community, the Palestinians are close to forming a new administration that could pave the way for peace talks.

The new American initiative coincides with talk about pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq. As they develop an exit strategy, the Americans seem to be showing greater urgency on other regional issues, like the Israeli-Palestinian question.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently approached Olmert on the possibility of including Barghouti in a prisoner-exchange deal involving abducted Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

Olmert rejected the idea, but Israeli officials believe the Barghouti issue could come up again in Olmert's meeting with President Bush.

A second American proposal is that Israel allow the Palestinian paramilitary Badr Brigade, which is loyal to Abbas, to relocate from Jordan to Gaza. On this, the officials say, Olmert is likely to be forthcoming.

The officials believe the more the Americans develop their exit strategy from Iraq, the more they'll want to see movement on the Israeli-Palestinian track, which would enable them to claim a significant measure of success in their overall regional policy.

The Israelis also are taking a more proactive approach. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, anxious not to have new outside initiatives foisted on Israel, has sent messages to Palestinian moderates to the effect that Israel is ready to make rapid progress toward a two-state solution — but on condition that any new P.A. government accepts the international community's three conditions: recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence and acceptance of previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

"If a new Palestinian government accepts the international benchmarks and stops the Kassam rocket fire, Israel will be prepared to go a long way. But the Palestinian side will have to budge first," a senior official said.

Israel, he said, would then be prepared to release prisoners, stop military operations, fast-track to an interim Palestinian mini-state and discuss the contours of a final peace deal.

"Until now Israel's foreign policy problem has been that, with the radical Hamas in power, the Palestinian moderates do not control the levers of power," the official explained. ``The main thrust of Israeli policy was to solve the conundrum through unilateral moves. Now the approach is to find ways of circumventing Hamas.'

The Palestinians also are moving to create conditions for dialogue. Abbas, from Fatah, and P.A. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of Hamas, met Monday, Nov. 6 in Gaza to finalize arrangements on the establishment of a new government.

Two proposals are on the table: a Hamas-Fatah national unity government or an apolitical government of experts. In both cases, the idea is to break out of international isolation by establishing a Palestinian administration acceptable to Israel and the international community.

More than its composition though, the question is whether the new government accepts the three benchmarks. If it does, the way for negotiations with Israel will be open. But it's not easy to see how Hamas, which won an overwhelming victory in last January's general election, will allow this to happen.

Hamas' policy until now has been to offer a long-term cease-fire, or hudna, without having to recognize the Jewish state. Israel suspects that without a wider agreement, the Palestinians would simply use the cease-fire to build up their military power.

Abbas, on the other hand, dismisses the hudna idea and says he wants a full-fledged peace treaty with Israel.