THE MIDDLE EAST: Vice-President Dick Cheney will not now fly out to meet the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, ahead of this week's Arab League summit in Beirut, but yesterday he supported the latter's right to attend the meeting.
In doing so he sided with Israel's Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, who says Mr Arafat should be allowed to travel, against his Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon. Mr Cheney said it was important the Beirut meeting should focus on the new Saudi peace plan and that if Mr Arafat was unable to attend he would become the centre of attention. "It would be better for him to be there than not," the Vice-President said.
Speaking to NBC's Meet the Press, Mr Cheney also gave a strong commitment of US continued re-engagement in the Middle East peace process, noting that it was now clear that "left to their own devices Israel and the Palestinians are unable to resolve their differences". He denied that the US had disengaged, but his comments mark a clear shift in emphasis for an Administration which came to power decrying President Clinton's hands-on approach.
Mr Cheney, whose flight back to the Middle East to meet Mr Arafat was being prepared over the weekend, said he was willing to meet Mr Arafat when he "implements Tenet aggressively" to the satisfaction of the US envoy, Gen Anthony Zinni, but "so far the conditions on the ground have not warranted going ahead" with a meeting.
The plan, named after the CIA head, Mr George Tenet, provides for security measures on both sides to bring about a ceasefire, specifically on the Palestinian side a crackdown on terrorism. Asked if he believed Mr Arafat was capable of ending Palestinian violence, Mr Cheney said: "I am confident that he is capable of doing much more than he is now." And, significantly, he distinguished between violence from organisations like Hizbullah, which he admitted was probably not "totally controllable", and that from groups that operate under the wing of the PLO.
He specifically urged Mr Arafat to instruct the forces of the Palestinian Authority to prevent attacks, to share intelligence with Israel and to make forceful statements in Arabic to his people repudiating violence.
Mr Cheney described the Saudi plan as a "courageous" initiative by Crown Prince Abdullah which could make a contribution.
