Palestine meeting to go ahead - by conference call

A planned conference on the future of the Palestinian Authority is to go ahead in London next week, despite the refusal of Israel to allow senior Palestinian representatives to travel, Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.

Mr Straw and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will hold discussions with leading Palestinians and representatives of the Quartet – the EU, US, Russia and the United Nations – on Tuesday.

The talks on reform of the Authority and building a future Palestinian state looked set to be derailed when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced a travel ban on Palestinian leaders in the wake of Sunday’s suicide bombs in Tel Aviv.

The Israeli premier then snubbed Britain by failing three times to meet UK ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles, who was carrying a letter from Mr Blair urging him to lift the ban.

Mr Straw said last night that Britain would press ahead with the meeting, speaking to the absent delegates by telephone conference call.

Mr Straw said: “The Prime Minister and I will next week go ahead with a meeting on Palestinian reform, and discuss with key Palestinians and international partners how to give new momentum to Palestinian reform.

“This is an important initiative. The reform agenda matters too much for us to allow it to become stalled. It is vital to the search for peace.

“I regret the Israeli decision to prevent Palestinians from travelling to London to discuss this agenda.

“We are therefore holding consultations with leading Palestinians who are committed to reform as well as with the Quartet and other interested parties.

“I am holding a telephone conference on Tuesday with senior members of the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian civil society, including the information minister Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo, the minister of planning and international co-operation Mr Nabil Sha’ath, and the minister of finance, Mr Salam Fayyad.

“The Prime Minister and I are also meeting participants here, including the Palestinian general delegate Afif Safieh.

“I am publishing today an agenda for Tuesday’s consultations. This is the same agenda as would have been discussed had the Palestinian participants been able to travel to London. The results of the discussions will be circulated to all participants.

“We will take stock of our next steps after the Israeli elections and intend to have a further meeting as soon as the Palestinian delegates are allowed to travel. We will help whenever we can to move the process forward and deliver security and justice for Palestinians and Israelis.”

Mr Straw said Tuesday’s conference would help the Palestinians prepare for the implementation of a “roadmap” drawn up by the Quartet to lead to full statehood.

Delegates will discuss political, judicial, administrative, economic and constitutional reform.

Discussion of the current violence will focus on the impact the security context has on reform efforts, rather than on detailed measures to stop the killing