Tony Blair’s hopes of improving relations with Ariel Sharon suffered a blow last night when the prime minister was forced to rebuff an attempt by his Israeli counterpart to persuade Britain to sever all contact with Yasser Arafat.
In a sign of Britain’s fragile relations with Israel after a series of rows, Blair told Sharon over dinner in Downing Street that Britain would continue to deal with the democratically elected president of the Palestinian Authority.
On the first day of a three-day visit to Britain, Sharon tried to win British support for his policy of isolating the Palestinian president when he asked Jack Straw and Blair to prevent officials meeting Arafat. A senior Israeli official accompanying Sharon told the news agency Reuters: ”Any contact with Arafat weakens [the Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud] Abbas.”
But Straw rejected Sharon’s request during a mid-morning call on him at his hotel. ”We made clear that the UK position, which is also that of the European Union, is that we will continue to have dealings with Arafat, who is the democratically elected president of the Palestinian Authority,” said a Foreign Office spokesperson.
Blair believes privately that Arafat has become a liability, unlike Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen, who is fully committed to the US sponsored ”road map” which charts the way to a Palestinian state. But Britain takes exception to being told who its officials should meet.
Sharon’s campaign to isolate Arafat appeared to be running into further difficulties last night when Abbas declared an end to his rift with Arafat, which had threatened the ”road map”. ”The disputes are over and things are all right,” he said after meeting Arafat at his devastated headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
His declaration shows that Arafat, who feared that Abbas was caving in to US pressure, will still play a significant role. But it also shores up Abbas’s position, ensuring that the US’s preferred choice as Palestinian leader in the ”road map” negotiations will remain in place.
Amid the encouraging developments in Ramallah, Britain did its best to talk up Sharon’s visit, which is de signed to repair relations after a series of damaging rows. Blair and Sharon had a ”very warm and constructive” two-hour dinner in Downing Street.
Greeting Sharon, Straw said: ”We know the huge amount of work you have been doing to help, in very great difficulties, the peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians.”
But at dinner, Blair urged Sharon to dismantle Israeli settlements in the West Bank, release Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, and halt construction of a 336 kilometre security fence in the West Bank. Only a handful of the estimated 60 outpost settlements have so far been taken down, and Israeli peace activists say many have already been rebuilt.
The official accompanying Sharon said Israel was prepared to reward Abbas for brokering a ceasefire by Palestinian militants by releasing 300 prisoners. But this falls well short of Abbas’s call for all 6 000 prisoners to be freed.
Israel has made clear that no prisoners with ”blood on their hands” would be released. But the official signalled Israel might loosen the terms after Sharon meets Abbas next week.
Sharon’s visit to Britain underlines Britain’s new influence in the Middle East. Blair is widely seen in Israel as having played a key role in persuading President George Bush to endorse the ”road map”. – Guardian Unlimited Â