MIDDLE EAST: The Israeli government's dispute with the US administration over the Geneva accords escalated yesterday to the highest echelon, with President Bush declaring his conditional backing for the unofficial peace plan, which Israel bitterly rejects.
Speaking at the White House after a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, the President made it abundantly plain that he fully supports scheduled meetings today between the key Geneva proponents - former Israeli justice minister Mr Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Authority information minister Mr Yasser Abed-Rabbo - and both Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell and Deputy Defence Secretary Mr Paul Wolfowitz.
Officials in the government of the Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, have branded the accords a capitulation to Palestinian terrorism, and described the proposed terms of the deal as tantamount to national suicide. They take particular exception to the provision for unprecedented territorial compromise in the West Bank and the transfer of full sovereignty on the Temple Mount to the Palestinian Authority. PA President Yasser Arafat has welcomed the accords in principle, but opposes clauses that appear to relinquish the demand for a "right of return" for millions of Palestinian refugees to Israel.
Israel's Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Olmert, had publicly urged Mr Powell earlier this week to cancel today's meeting. And a senior Sharon aide, Mr Dore Gold, yesterday asked "friendly countries around the world" to "respect the democratic choices of the people of Israel" and not "get drawn into our domestic politics."
But Mr Powell used a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels to confirm that the meeting would go ahead.
And Mr Bush indicated his backing, saying that he considered the Geneva Accords "productive" as long as they were faithful to three principles: that "we must fight off terror, that there must be security, and there must be the emergence of a Palestinian state that is democratic and free.
The President's position appears to reflect his mounting frustration with the Sharon government, which he criticised again for failing to freeze settlement expansion and dismantle illegal West Bank outposts, and for routing a security barrier into the West Bank. Israel has dismantled a few minor outposts in recent days.
And it is now offering to "restrain its military activity", in the words of Deputy Defence Minister Mr Zeev Boim, if all Palestinian factions endorse a full intifada ceasefire.
Talks on the ceasefire began yesterday outside Cairo. The PA Prime Minister, Mr Ahmed Korei, is set to participate next week.