Report urgent appeal to end violence in Middle East

JERUSALEM - An urgent plea to halt the violence was made by one of the world's most trusted peace-makers yesterday, as he sought to achieve the seemingly impossible - to find a solution to the Middle East hostilities.

George Mitchell, a former United States senator who helped negotiate Nothern Ireland's Good Friday Agreement, called for an end to hostilities and a resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. He said both sides should enforce a cooling-off period.

Revealing the report of an international committee to investigate the past eight months of violence, he said: "Fear, hate, anger and frustration have risen on both sides. The greatest danger of all is that the culture of peace, nurtured over the previous decade, is being shattered."

On Saturday, Israel used warplanes to bomb Palestinian targets for the first time since 1967, after a suicide bomber killed five Israelis.

Endorsing Mitchell's recommendations, but stopping short of a full US diplomatic drive, US Secretary of State Colin Powell named a "special assistant" to help both warring sides stop the fighting. Powell said the US Ambassador to Jordan, William Burns, would back up US diplomats in Israel and the Palestinian territories and "make himself available to the parties."

"It is now up to the leaders in the region to show that they have heard this clarion call from this committee."

But he stopped short of promising personal involvement in talks, let alone a new summit.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, accepting the recommendations, again called for the reconvening of an international summit that proposed a ceasefire last October. A spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon welcomed the report but accused the Palestinians of "playing games," reiterating Israel's position that a complete cessation of violence must come before talks.

He spokesman also rejected the committee's call for a halt to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip - at the heart of the Palestinian uprising for independence.

Mitchell said: "The Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority must act swiftly and decisively to halt the violence. Their immediate objectives should then be to rebuild confidence and resume negotiations.

"The restoration of trust is essential and the parties should take affirmative steps to this end. Given the high level of hostility and mistrust, the timing and sequence of these steps are crucial. We urge them to begin the process immediately."

Significantly, the report does not spell out a role for further US involvement, a crucial topic with critics who say that the the Bush Administration must make more of an effort to try to restart peace negotiations. The commission - which also included Javier Solana, the European Union's security chief, and the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Thorbjoern Jagland - was established under a deal brokered by former US President Bill Clinton.

A Palestinian official was quoted as saying he believed the US was trying to put together a package for renewing peace talks that would include some of the Mitchell proposals.

Other recommendations call on the Israeli Army to use non-lethal responses to unarmed demonstrators and say that the Palestinians should prevent gunmen firing at Israeli targets from Palestinian areas.

The commission also calls for: Israel to allow Palestinians to return to their jobs within Israeli-controlled areas; Israel to transfer tax revenues to the Palestinians; Israel to list all closures of borders or roads.

A main point of the findings was that Sharon's visit in September to Jerusalem's Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa mosque complex "did not cause" the violence.

The commission did say the visit was poorly timed and that its provocative effect should have been foreseen.

The group did not apportion blame for the violence to either side.

- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS

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