The British and Israeli governments were engaged in a full-scale row yesterday Monday after Ariel Sharon banned Palestinians from attending a peace conference in London next week. The conference, a pet project of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is now almost certain to be postponed.
Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, who controls the movement of all Palestinians in and out of the West Bank and Gaza, imposed the travel ban as part of punishment measures after suicide bombings killed 22 in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Britain's foreign secretary, Jack Straw, had fiery exchanges with his Israeli counterpart, Binyamin Netanyahu, yesterday morning. Netanyahu further inflamed the situation by publishing extracts of the private conversation between the two men, an unusual breach of diplomatic etiquette.
The row marks a distinct cooling in British-Israeli relations. Until now, Israel has viewed Blair as being one of their few dependable supporters in Europe.
A delegation of six Palestinians was invited to the Foreign Office residence at Carlton Gardens for a two-day conference next Monday and Tuesday to discuss reform of the Palestinian authority, including how to clamp down on militant groups. Also invited were representatives from the US, the UN, the EU, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
Straw, angry that Israel had not informed him of the decision, which he had only heard about on radio news, called Netanyahu to express his regret at the ban. He asked Netanyahu to reconsider but there is little expectation that Israel will back down.
Netanyahu, according to the Israeli transcript, told Straw that the bombings ruled out "business as usual" and he urged Britain to adopt the position of the US president, George Bush, "that leaders compromised by terror cannot be partners for peace".
He added: "You in Britain are doing the exact opposite."
Straw countered, according to the transcript: "No, it is Israel that is doing the opposite. Instead of concentrating on dealing with terrorism, it is striking at [Palestinian] delegates."
The Foreign Office took the line that it was a private conversation and it would not comment on the details of what took place.
Straw, in a speech later, said the conference was in the interests of Israelis as well as Palestinians because security was on the agenda. He phoned US Secretary of State Colin Powell to inform him of the ban but Washington is unlikely to intervene to put pressure on Israel because it had little interest in the conference in the first place.
Netanyahu, elaborating on the ban at a press conference, said: "Legitimizing the sham reform efforts of Arafat's regime will, in effect, legitimize a Palestinian leadership compromised by terror.
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