Palestinians urged to lead way to peace

An Egyptian envoy today urged the Palestinians to lead the way toward ending more than three years of violence with Israel, saying he was hopeful that Israel would respond favourably to such moves.

Egypt has been trying for weeks to get Palestinian militants to halt attacks against Israel to help restart peace talks.

Osama el-Baz, a top aide to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, travelled to the Palestinian areas today as part of those efforts.

El-Baz voiced some optimism after a meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

“We are deeply concerned to get out of this problematic situation which threatens the whole region,” he said. “What I heard from President Arafat makes me more hopeful for the future.”

Israel and the United States accuse Arafat of fomenting terrorism and impeding truce efforts, and el-Baz did not give specifics on whether Arafat had made any concrete undertakings.

The Palestinians have refused to dismantle violent groups as required in the US-led “road map” peace plan – and their Egyptian-backed efforts to win a no-violence pledge from the militants have so far failed.

Meanwhile, violence continues and Israel has not frozen settlements or carried out other road map obligations.

The road map calls for an end to violence and the establishment of a Palestinians state by 2005.

On Thursday, el-Baz urged the Palestinians to take an active role in improving the situation.

“We should set a good example. We, from our side, should take decisions and measures that can lead the way to a better future,” el-Baz said. “Then, we hope the Israelis will do the same, because (resolving) the whole problem depends on the willingness of both sides.”

Arafat, who has been confined to Ramallah for two years by Israeli troops, said only that they had discussed “the problems that we face as the Palestinian people.”

Palestinian lawmaker Khatem Abdel Khader, who participated in the meeting with el-Baz, said that the Egyptian official was pressing the Palestinian factions to quickly renew the truce talks, but he did not expect quick results.

Israel has in the past insisted it would accept nothing less than a full disarming of the militants responsible for killing hundreds of Israelis - something its own army has failed to accomplish in more than three years of concerted effort.

Meanwhile, the New Year passed without major incidents in Israel, where security forces had been on high alert, setting up roadblocks and patrolling highways and popular gathering spots.