US-supervised truce talks ended without agreement early yesterday, with Israelis and Palestinians arguing over who should take the first steps, and hours later Israel staged arrest raids in three West Bank villages.
Despite wide gaps, three-way truce talks were to resume later yesterday, and an agreement on a ceasefire was widely expected before Monday -- the tentative date, according to Palestinian officials, for a meeting between US Vice President Dick Cheney and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Cairo.
Cheney said earlier this week he would only meet with Arafat once a ceasefire was in place.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a Cheney-Arafat meeting early next week was "certainly possible," and suggested the timing was intended, in part, to make sure Israel lifted its travel ban on Arafat ahead of next week's crucial Arab summit in Beirut.
The US wants Arafat to be able to attend the summit, during which Saudi Arabia is to present a plan offering Israel peace with the Arab world in exchange for a withdrawal from all occupied territories.
The groundbreaking plan -- which, if adopted, would be the first such offer by the Arab world -- has been welcomed by the US, the UN and the EU. Saudi Arabia has said it would not present the plan in Arafat's absence.
Sharon has linked Arafat's departure from the Palestinian territories to a ceasefire. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said yesterday that Israel has promised Cheney that if he invites Arafat to meet him, Israel would let the Palestinian leader go.
"We have said this both to Cheney and to Arafat, and what we said is binding," Peres told Israel Radio.
In the latest round of truce talks, based on an agreement brokered last year by CIA chief George Tenet, Israelis and Palestinians remained far apart on a timetable and the sequence of steps required by both sides.
Israel wants to implement the plan in four to five weeks -- double the time envisioned by the Palestinians, participants said.
Israel says in the first stage, the Palestinians must disarm militias and arrest suspected militants, while the Palestinians insist that Israel first withdraw its troops to positions they held before the outbreak of fighting in September 2000.
Despite the difficulties, both sides were optimistic.
"This is the continuation of tough bargaining," said Israeli Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh. "It is not simple, but it has more of a chance now than a short time ago."
The Palestinian security chief in the West Bank, Jibril Rajoub, said the gaps were "huge," but that both sides are working hard to bridge them.
US envoy Anthony Zinni is working on a bridging proposal, to be presented to the two sides today, said a Palestinian official.
After the last round of talks ended early yesterday, Israeli troops raided three Palestinian-controlled villages near the West Bank town of Jenin and arrested more than 20 people, Palestinian officials said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2