Middle East: US officials are holding talks this weekend with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the hope that President George Bush, who hosts a summit meeting in Aqaba, Jordan, on Wednesday, will by then be able to announce the formal start to implementation of the so-called "road map to peace", writes David Horovitz,
The two senior officials - Elliot Abrams of the National Security Council and State Department envoy William Burns - are working with the two sides to draw up opening statements for the Aqaba summit, encouraged by the outcome of a three-hour meeting on Thursday night between Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), a session which both sides described as "serious and constructive".
The Palestinians are anxious that the Aqaba summit should begin with a formal Israeli statement of recognition of their right to statehood, something apparently no longer anathema to Mr Sharon, who has been striking a dramatically-moderated rhetorical tone over the past few days. His countryfolk appear to share his position: 57 per cent of Israelis surveyed for the Ma'ariv newspaper said that they backed Palestinian statehood.
A spokesman for Mr Sharon used surprisingly upbeat language yesterday, declaring that "Israelis woke up this morning with hope for a brighter future" and adding: "Now it is up to the Palestinians to follow through by once and for all cracking down on terror." Mr Abbas's minister of information, Mr Nabil Amr, was enthusiastic, if less hyperbolic. "It was a positive meeting and \ with good results," he said.
In the wake of the Thursday meeting, Israel is to move its troops out of the major West Bank cities (although they will remain deployed on the outskirts), release about 100 Palestinian prisoners and ease some restrictions on Palestinian travel in the West Bank. All this would happen "within a very short time", an aide to Mr Sharon said.
There was no indication that Israel is ready to meet Mr Abbas's demand for an end to its siege on the Ramallah headquarters of the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat.
Mr Sharon and Mr Abbas reportedly discussed a more dramatic Israeli military pullback - from all the forward West Bank positions the army has held for more than a year. Mr Sharon said he feared that Hamas and other extremist groups would benefit from such a withdrawal unless Mr Abbas's security forces were able to take control.
Mr Abbas noted that the Palestinian Authority's security forces had been decimated over the past 32 months, in large part by Israeli military action.
Mr Abbas is intensifying efforts to secure a pledge from Hamas to cease suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians - an agreement he hopes to reach early next week. Hamas is understood to be divided over the issue, with the West Bank leadership favouring a truce and senior figures in Gaza and abroad resisting it. The al-Aqsa Brigades, which are loyal to Mr Arafat, are refusing to disarm.
The US government yesterday suggested that its nationals leave Gaza for a safer location after receiving what it called "credible reports" of planned kidnap attempts.