MIDDLE EAST: Promoting his idea for a Middle East peace conference in Britain, the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, heard Israeli leaders yesterday reiterate their position that they did not plan to attend, while Palestinian leaders said the agenda was too narrow.
Mr Blair, who yesterday met the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, and later the interim Palestinian leader, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah, said the conference was aimed at helping to reform the Palestinian Authority - on an economic and security level - and to serve as a bridge for a return to full-fledged peace talks.
At a joint press conference in Ramallah with Mr Abbas, Mr Blair placed the emphasis on the need for the Palestinians to end violence. "We have to have a situation where everything that can be done is being done to stop terrorism and violence," he said, essentially echoing the Israeli and American positions.
Mr Abbas, who has criticised the armed dimension of the intifada uprising, responded by saying that "both sides have to be committed to security". He said he believed the conference would be "the first step" to getting the peace process back on track.
Mr Blair said the conference would be a one-day affair, most likely in February, which would focus on Palestinian reforms and would hopefully serve as a "modest" way back to the moribund roadmap peace plan, which envisages an independent Palestinian state.
Palestinian leaders told him they hoped the conference agenda would be broader, also focusing on issues at the heart of the conflict, like the future of Jerusalem, final borders and the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees. Mr Blair said organising a conference to deal with such substantive issues was "not for me to undertake" - a reference to the US's role as the main mediator in the conflict.
Following his meeting with Mr Blair, Mr Sharon repeated the Israeli position that since the conference "deals only with Palestinian issues, together we reached the conclusion that there is no need for Israeli participation".
The Israeli leader is keen to keep the more substantive issues off the agenda as he focuses on a Gaza withdrawal.
Some observers have suggested that Mr Sharon's unilateral approach - at most he has said he will co-ordinate the pull-out with the Palestinians and only since Yasser Arafat's death - is aimed at steering clear of any negotiation which would ultimately lead to discussing the cardinal issues which fuel the conflict.
Asked whether he did not have doubts over Mr Sharon's intentions regarding the West Bank, Mr Blair said he had understood Mr Sharon "to be saying very, very clearly [ that], provided terrorism stops . . . disengagement [ from Gaza] is not the last word."
The Palestinians had hoped Mr Blair would lay a wreath at the tomb of Mr Arafat in the courtyard of his former compound in Ramallah, but the British prime minister simply walked toward the grave, nodded briefly, then continued on his way.