US aims to invite Syria to peace meeting

UNITED NATIONS: Reuters: The United States signaled it would invite Syria and other Arab states to a Middle East peace conference but suggested they must renounce violence and genuinely seek an end to the conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she viewed members of an Arab League panel - comprising of the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt - as "natural invitees" to the U.S.-hosted conference.

Only the last two have full relations with Israel, while Syria is deeply estranged from the Jewish state and is accused of providing arms and money to Palestinian groups that oppose peace with Israel.

Speaking after a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators, which urged Israel to keep power and fuel flowing to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Rice suggested that attending the U.S. conference, expected to be held in the Washington area in November, came with some strings.

"Coming to this meeting also brings with it certain responsibilities," Rice told reporters at a news conference after the meeting of the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union.

"We hope that those who come are really committed to helping the Israelis and the Palestinians find a way through. And that means renouncing violence, it means working for a peaceful solution," she added.

The United States wants other Arab states to take part in the conference as a way to build support for a broader peace between Israel and its neighbors.

Rice would not say unequivocally that invitations would be extended to Syria, Saudi Arabia and the other members of the Arab League panel created to follow up on the group's 2002 peace plan. A senior U.S. official who asked not to be named told reporters, however, that the United States would do so.

That plan, initially floated by Saudi Arabia, called on Israel to withdraw from all Arab land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, reach an "agreed, just" solution for Palestinian refugees, and accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Following a dinner between the Quartet and Arab ministers, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Riyadh had not yet decided whether it would accept any invitation.

"We've got some answers but we still have some questions which we hope to be answered," he told reporters. Asked specifically if his country would attend the conference, he said: "We still need some more answers."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said he expected "the majority" of Arab invitees to attend.

Rice told the news conference the meeting would be "substantive and serious" and would deal with the core issues of Palestinian refugees, Jerusalem and borders.

Meanwhile The Middle East diplomatic Quartet backed ongoing bilateral talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as well as an upcoming US-sponsored peace conference.

In a joint statement issued after a two-hour meeting here, the four sponsors of the Middle East peace process expressed "strong support" for the Olmert-Abbas talks and also backed the Israeli-Palestinian peace conference which Washington hopes to host in November.

The meeting brought together UN chief Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and British former prime minister Tony Blair who delivered his first report since he was named the grouping's special envoy in June.

The Quartet "expressed support for the international meeting on Israeli-Palestinian peace called by (US) President (George W.) Bush," stressing that it should be "substantive and serious."

The Quartet also expressed concern over conditions in Gaza and stressed the "importance of continued emergency and humanitarian assistance without obstruction".

It expressed "urgent concern over the continued closure of major crossing points given the impact on the Palestinian economy and daily life" while also deploring the continued rocker fire from Gaza into Israel.

The Quartet issued a "roadmap" for achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace in 2003, but the three-stage plan that should have led to the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005 has since languished.

Earlier Israel authorised the deployment of 500 Palestinian police reinforcements to the restive West Bank town of Nablus, where it recently carried out a major military incursion.

"Defence Minister Ehud Barak has authorised the daytime deployment of 500 Palestinian police in Nablus, as requested by prime minister Salam Fayyad," a spokesman for his ministry told AFP. "If it's a success, this measure will be extended to other towns," he said.

The decision comes days after a large Israeli operation in a refugee camp near Nablus netted 49 alleged militants and foiled a Tel Aviv suicide bomb plot, according to the Israeli army.

New York, Monday, Reuters, AFP