World powers step up demands for Arab-Israeli peace

Global diplomacy's equivalent of a full court press was under way yesterday, as the main powers plotted a massive effort to turn a planned Middle East conference into the catalyst for a lasting settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The initiative, announced by Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, after a meeting in Washington of top American, United Nations, Russian and European officials, was given a cautious welcome yesterday by Israelis and Palestinians, the two central players.

The conference, to be held in Europe in early summer, will be at the level of foreign ministers – which will not require the presence of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, whom George Bush still refuses to meet, and with whom Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, insists he will not negotiate.

Though the participants have not been chosen, they are likely to include, in addition to the "quartet" that met at the State Department on Thursday, the five strategic Arab states of Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as well as representatives of Israel and the Palestinians.

The diplomatic drive began yesterday with talks at Camp David between President Bush and Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, the holder of the EU's rotating presidency. Next week, Mr Sharon and King Abdullah of Jordan will be in Washington, while the newly liberated Mr Arafat is likely to attend a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.

But for all the activity, and despite the present lull in the violence, diplomats said that the "window of opportunity" claimed by General Powell was only open the barest chink. The whole project could be derailed by another suicide bombing or Israeli incursion into Palestinian-run territory.

And if the goal of a Palestinian state is universally accepted, the means of getting there are not. The fundamental gulf between the two sides remains as wide as ever. Nothing Mr Sharon is ready to offer will satisfy the Palestinians, and vice versa. An alternative would be for the outside world, embodied by the "quartet", to impose a solution. But nothing remotely suggests yet that it is ready to go that far.

None the less, the initiative reflects at least a readiness, however grudging, by the US to work to achieve a solution with the other big powers, the Russians, Europeans and the United Nations. This is being seen as tacit recognition by Washington that while its engagement is vital, it cannot resolve the crisis alone. Unsurprisingly, EU spokesmen in Brussels were hailing the development as a "major breakthrough". The problem is the perceived pro-Israeli bias of the Bush administration. Even as he proposed the conference, General Powell was billing it as a "last chance" for Mr Arafat, while Mr Bush, for all his insistence that Israel pull out completely from the West Bank, reserved his sharpest words for the Palestinian leader.

The future Palestinian state could not be built upon terrorism and corruption, he warned, exhorting Mr Arafat to "show he can lead". His spokesman, Ari Fleischer, went further, saying that the President believed the Palestinians "deserved better than Mr Arafat". In domestic political terms too, Mr Bush's hands are partially tied by the overwhelming public sympathy for Israel. Brushing aside White House protests, both houses of Congress on Thursday passed non-binding resolutions in support of Israel by overwhelming majorities.

The House, by a margin of 352 to 21, accused Mr Arafat of "ongoing support of terror", while the Senate, by an even more crushing margin of 94 to 2, declared that America and Israel were fighting a common war against terror. The formidable Israeli lobby may have had something to do with the outcome. But the votes underline how any suggestion that Mr Bush is deserting Israel's side could inflict political damage ahead of November's mid-term elections.

Conversely, the President must at least defuse the crisis to free his hands to go after Iraq, his main ambition in the region. King Abdullah will convey again this week the Arab world's virtually unanimous opposition to any such venture until Palestinian grievances are properly addressed.