American peace team begins Middle East mission
Palestine-USA, Politics, 11/27/2001

Two US envoys began a Middle East mission yesterday aimed at ending months of violence, amidst an atmosphere full of tension and anticipation in the Palestinian occupied lands.

Former US Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns arrived at Tel Aviv airport where they were met by chief of Israel's Shin Bet Security Service, and Military Intelligence Chief.

The first goal of the US Middle East peace team is to stabilize the threadbare ceasefire, the Israeli Jerusalem Post said Monday.

"What is important is that (General Anthony) Zinni and the other members of the US team, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and Aaron Miller, have received a very clear and specific mandate: to bring about a ceasefire between the Palestinians and Israel," according to the paper.

"Although there are as yet no indications of this, the success of the Zinni-Burns-Miller mission could be jeopardized should there be an initiative to enlarge its mandate into trying to act as an intermediary with regard to the future political stages in the process," the paper said.

"Not only would this go beyond the present mandate, but exceeding what might be achievable at this time could endanger what can be accomplished now: namely, creating a situation conducive to a real and genuine ceasefire," it added.

Zinni and Burns are on a mission to cement a US-brokered ceasefire and move both sides towards implementing a truce-to talks plan proposed by an international panel led by former US Senator George Mitchell.

"William Burns, US Assistant Secretary of State for Middle East and North African affairs, is due to arrive in Cairo Thursday on a day-long visit," a spokesman for the US Embassy in Cairo said Monday.

Burns will hold talks with senior Egyptian officials on pushing the Middle East peace process forward and resuming peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis, the spokesman said.

Burns talks will also cover furthering American-Egyptian relations.

Burns and retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni were appointed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell as Middle East peace envoys in a bid to bring the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will meet with the American team tomorrow to expound the Palestinian vision to get out of the present dilemma.

Before the US team took off from Washington, the Palestinian Authority requested that they would have a timetable to implement the Mitchell recommendations and the Tenet understanding.

Ahmed Qurei, better-known as Abu Ala'a, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and member of the negotiations, said that the Palestinian side will raise three urgent issues to the US team, namely having mechanisms and timetables for the final status negotiations, implementation of Tenet

Previous Stories:
  A new US strategy in the Middle East   (11/16/2001)
  Bush to meet with Arafat in due time   (11/13/2001)
  The US and Hamas   (11/10/2001)

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