Burns steps up ‘shuttle diplomacy’
The new US Mideast envoy today urged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to do everything possible to stop attacks against Israel and called on both sides to implement recommendations of an international commission.
In the Bush administration’s first foray into Mideast shuttle diplomacy, envoy William Burns met on Sunday with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and planned more meetings today, Palestinian officials said.
The talks came as Israeli made new incursions in the Gaza Strip.
Two Israeli tanks, an armoured vehicle and two bulldozers entered an area east of Karni and levelled land and olive farms, witnesses said.
The new US diplomatic initiative came against the backdrop of new violence in Israel: two car bombs exploded within hours of one another on Sunday in downtown Jerusalem. The blasts caused no serious injuries. The radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the first, the militant Islamic Jihad the second.
Burns condemned the bombings and said he had urged Arafat ‘‘to do everything possible to stop such attacks’’.
After Sunday’s talks, Israel’s Channel Two TV reported the sides agreed to resume meetings between security officials which had been suspended for months.
There was no confirmation, however. But there were signs Israel was edging toward agreeing to a freeze on Jewish settlement building to follow a cease-fire.
The inquiry commission led by former US Senator George Mitchell had called for an end to violence and for a series of confidence-building measures, including a freeze on building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
Burns hopes to persuade both sides to implement the recommendations as a way of ending eight months of violence.
Israeli Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar said after Burns met with Sharon in Jerusalem that the ‘‘unilateral ceasefire’’ Israel announced last week would continue, but that Sharon had told Burns that ‘‘this ‘letting it pass’ stage cannot continue forever.’’
Saar said Burns praised Israel’s restraint.
Since fighting erupted last September, 478 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 85 on the Israeli side.
