Israel to Boycott Blair's Peace Conference

[Tinoire]

Israel to Boycott Blair's Peace Conference

Israel to boycott Blair's peace conference
By Andrew Grice and Eric Silver in Jerusalem
21 December 2004


Tony Blair will take on the role of go-between for the Israelis and Palestinians as he tries to keep up the momentum of the Middle East peace process on a two-day visit to the region starting today.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon announced yesterday that Israel would not attend the Middle East conference Mr Blair plans to host in London after next month's Palestinian presidential election. The conference is due to discuss how the Palestinian Authority can meet its obligations under the internationally backed road map to peace.

As Mr Blair prepared for a flying visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah, British diplomats received the news of Mr Sharon's announcement with equanimity. It was seen as a logical outcome of preliminary talks last week between Israeli leaders and Sir Nigel Sheinwald, the Prime Minister's senior foreign affairs adviser.

"Mr Sharon's decision neither surprises me nor disturbs me," an official at the British embassy in Tel Aviv told The Independent. "It indicates an understanding on the part of the Israeli government of the purpose and scope of the London conference. It was always our intention that it should be a conference preparing the Palestinians for the day after Israel disengages from Gaza."

The summit will be attended by foreign ministers of donor countries and representatives of the quartet that drafted the road map - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

(snip)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=595111

[jellybelly]

1. ...

Once Israel heard the Palestinians were coming they backed out. Kinda funny.

[DemFromMem]

2. A VERY misleading headline

"A senior source in Mr Sharon's office said that the Israeli decision had been co-ordinated with Downing Street in an extensive exchange of letters. "We support this conference," he said, "but we see no purpose for us to participate. It's between the Palestinians and the donor countries.""


Israel is not boycotting this meeting. This meeting is really not Israel's concern and its being represented there would probably be counter-productive. Hardly a "boycott" and whoever wrote that headline should be given a good dressing down.

[Tinoire]

4. Hmmmmm.

A senior source in Mr Sharon's office said that the Israeli decision had been co-ordinated with Downing Street in an extensive exchange of letters.

....
Asked whether the timing of Mr Sharon's announcement - during a meeting yesterday with the Czech Foreign Minister, Cyril Svoboda, might be seen as a snub to Mr Blair, he replied:...


Now before accusing the headline of being misleading even though the story suppports it and the "boycott" is typical of how the right-wing government in Israel operates, one should really check more sources... So I did, just for you :)

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ruled out any Israeli participation in a Middle East conference expected to take place in London early in 2005.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-12/21/content_2361871.htm

Israel to shun Mid-East 'event'

Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says that his country will not take part in a Middle East conference.

Reports say Britain is organising a conference, but as yet, however, nothing has been announced.

Mr Sharon spoke at the start of a week in which UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected in the Middle East.

(snip)

As yet nothing has been officially announced, but that has not stopped Israel from getting in its position ahead of time.

Mr Sharon is definite - he says his country will not attend a conference.

This at least saves Tony Blair the embarrassment of inviting Israel and being rejected, but it does mean that the UK prime minister may now have to find other ways of trying to bring the two sides in this conflict together.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4113355.stm

(snip)

"We will not participate, but we understand its (the conference's) importance," Sharon told visiting Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, says an official statement.

(snip)

His office had already made Israel's position clear, but Sharon's comments were the first time the prime minister himself had mentioned it. "We are in favour of a conference to help the Palestinians, but we are not attending because we don’t see it as a peace conference," a source said.

(snip)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/965777.cms

Sharon: Israel Won't Go to London Summit

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel won't participate in an international Mideast conference Britain is considering hosting, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday.

Last week, a Sharon adviser said Israel was prepared to attend, provided the conference focuses on the Palestinian economic revival and government reform, and not on issues to be negotiated by Israel and the Palestinians.

The Palestinians want the conference to deal with ``final status issues,'' including borders and the future of Jerusalem.

(snip)

``We do not consider this event to be a political conference, and that is what we were told,'' Sharon said, adding that security matters would be handled through direct negotiations, according to the statement.

(snip)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4683650,00.html



And straight from Tel Aviv...


Israel rules out joining Blair's proposed Middle East conference

By The Associated Press



British Prime Minister Tony Blair's plan for a Middle East conference was rejected by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday, reversing last week's positive statements from his government about attending.

(snip)

Sharon ruled out Israeli participation in any multinational conference that touched on the nation's security.

(snip)

Israel had said last week that it was prepared to attend a London conference, which officials hoped would focus on ending violence and promoting Palestinian reforms.

Palestinian officials want to take up final status issues like Jerusalem, refugees, settlements and borders - topics that have snagged previous negotiations.

(snip)

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/517105.html


SO I dunno, color me stupid but it sure sounds like a boycott to me. This was supposed to be Blair's big peace conference and Israel was supposed to attend up until last week. They decided they didn't like the topics that were going to be discussed and pressured Blair to change the entire focus of the conference. And after succeeding in that, they suddenly announce that they will not be attending.

Sure sounds like a boycott to me. I suspect it had to do with that pesky road map to peace that Sharon isn't too thrilled with and thinks ONLY the Palestinians need to follow.

It's unfortunate for humanity that Israel's biggest allies, aka protectors, are willing to play this dirty charade with Sharon.

[leesa]

5. Right.

[umtalal]

3. Israel wanting peace is a lie.

[daleo]

6. What is the point of a conference without Israel in this matter?

Either:
- the Palestinians are going to be given a talk on the "facts of life" by U.S., U.K., Europe and Russia (i.e. don't expect any help from us)
or
- Israel will be given a co-ordinated plan of where the major powers want things to go, whether they like it or not
or
- the whole thing is just for show, so that U.S./U.K. can claim that they are earnestly interested in middle east peace, as they set an Iranian clay pigeon into the machinery of death and yell "pull".

I don't know, but my experience tells me the latter is most likely.

[IndianaGreen]

7. "a talk on the "facts of life" by U.S., U.K.... "

Nothing like having the former colonial powers and the current imperialist hyper power lecture the poor and destitute Palestinians about "the facts of life."

If there is anything that is true about the Middle East is that the US should withdraw from the region altogether and stop supporting the human rights abusers in the region, which is really all of them!