Cheney Visits Israel to Push Peace Process But Palestinians Remain Pessimistic

By Isabel Kershner

Vice President Dick Cheney met Sunday with Israeli and Palestinian leaders here and in the West Bank city of Ramallah in what U.S. officials said was an effort to move the Mideast peace process forward.

But Israeli officials seemed more interested in seeking Cheney’s input on broader regional issues, chief among them the perceived threat from Iran, while Palestinian officials expressed deep pessimism about peace.

Welcoming Cheney at a news conference here Saturday night, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pointedly placed Iran ahead of the peace process as one of “the many items on the common agenda” to be discussed.

“We are both very concerned about Iran; we are anxious to carry on the peace negotiations with the Palestinians,” Olmert said, adding Lebanon, Syria and rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza to the list of topics he hoped to discuss with Cheney.

Although Cheney has only a few months left in office, an Israeli official said he was seen in Jerusalem as “a significant player” who could influence “serious issues that cannot wait.” A hawkish member of the Bush administration, Cheney offered robust support for Israel before sitting down for dinner with Olmert on Saturday.

“America’s commitment to Israel’s security is enduring and unshakable, as is our commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself always against terrorism, rocket attacks and other threats from forces dedicated to Israel’s destruction,” Cheney said. The United States, he said, “will never pressure Israel to take steps that threaten its security.”

Cheney, who is not known for being involved in the details of the peace process, sounded less committal regarding the Palestinians. He said that “history has clearly shown” that Israelis were prepared to make sacrifices for peace when they encountered Arab partners like Anwar Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan, “who accepted Israel’s permanence and are willing and capable of delivering on their commitments.” Sadat was assassinated in 1981 and Hussein died of cancer in 1999; he was succeeded by his son.

“I have no doubt this is equally the case with Palestinians,” Cheney said, without mentioning the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Cheney also warned against ignoring “the darkening shadows” emanating from Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamic group Hamas, and from Lebanon, Syria and Iran.

Cheney’s visit to Israel and the West Bank came as part of a 10- day tour of the region with stops in Iraq, Oman, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

He started Sunday with an Easter service in the small chapel of a monastery that sits within the U.S. Consulate General compound in West Jerusalem.

He then flew by helicopter to Ramallah, where he met Abbas and the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad. Cheney’s spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the purpose of the trip was to “reaffirm the president’s commitment to the current efforts toward the two-state solution and efforts to strengthen Palestinian institutions.”

This latest incarnation of the Israeli-Palestinian process was started at an American-sponsored peace conference in Maryland in November. The sides pledged to try to reach an agreement on the core issues of the conflict by the end of President George W. Bush’s term in January 2009.

The talks have been bogged down by violence in and around Gaza and by Olmert’s domestic political difficulties. American officials are eager to get the process moving again before Bush’s next trip here to coincide in May with Israel’s 60th-anniversary celebrations.

Appearing with Abbas in Ramallah, Cheney said that Palestinian statehood was long overdue, but that continuing terrorism and rocket attacks could “kill the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people.”

Abbas said that security and peace “will not be realized” if Israel continues to build settlements and refuses to remove roadblocks in the West Bank.

The Israeli government recently announced the resumption of a long-frozen construction project in a West Bank settlement and plans for further building in areas of East Jerusalem that the Palestinians claim as part of a future state.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator, said in Jerusalem last week: “It’s either settlements or peace.”

Meanwhile, in Sana, the capital of Yemen, representatives of Fatah and Hamas signed a document Sunday, agreeing to use a Yemeni proposal “as a framework for the resumption of dialogue between the two movements for the return of the Palestinian situation to what it was” before June 2007.

That was when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in a brief factional conflict, routing Fatah forces loyal to Abbas. Hamas has long said it was ready for negotiations to restore national unity, but Fatah had conditioned talks on Hamas giving up control of Gaza.

Originally published by The New York Times Media Group.

(c) 2008 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.