Qatar conference: gloomy expectations
Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy said he has not made up his mind yet as to whether to attend the Doha International Economic Conference in Qatar next week and said his decision will only be finalized next Sunday.
Levy's statement came as reports from Washington arrived in Israel saying the US Administration blames Israel for the potential failure of the Doha summit. Meanwhile, diplomatic sources in Tel Aviv Monday morning cast doubt that the meeting scheduled between between US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in London later this week could lead to any breakthrough in the question of Israeli army redeployment in the West Bank. Mena
Netanyahu has claimed that it will be impossible for Israel to carry out the redeployment as long as the Palestinians "don’t fight terror with determination." Netanyahu, it is now certain, hopes to move directly to the final status talks with the Palestinians without having to implement the clauses of the interim agreements signed between the Palestine and Israel. He seemingly lacks a full US backing on this issue.
Press reports from Washington had lately quoted Albright as saying that if the Qatar economic conference fails "it will be to a great extent because of Israel, whose obstinacy has prevented progress in the peace process." Albright was speaking at a confidential discussion held in the US State Department some days ago. Her statement was quoted by a senior US State Department official who spoke to Hebrew Haaretz daily on Monday. Albright reportedly expressed concern over the negative effect the lack of progress in Middle East peace will have over US ability to ensure an anti-Iraq coalition.
The State Department official said Albright was disappointed the talks in Washington did not bring progress in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. The Administration had hoped the talks would lead to significant progress which would then encourage Arab nations to appear at the Qatar conference with a relatively full and high level representation of foreign ministers.
After the Sunday consultations on the subject at the Israeli foreign ministry, Levy said he was reluctant to attend the Doha conference because other foreign ministers from the region will not attend in protest over the lack of progress in the peace process. “I still have to formulate a position. We are testing whether it is at all politically viable. There is no point in traveling to Doha only in order to be there," he said. ” Israeli estimates said an estimated 900 businessmen from all over the world will participate, and 60 percent will be from the Middle East. Last year in Cairo, some 1,400 businessmen participated, and Israel blames "Qatar's limited hosting facilities" for the remarkable drop in the potential attendants of the conference.
Israel will apparently send a delegation of some 30 to 35 businessmen as well as some 30 government officials, including Minister of Industry and Trade Natan Sharansky and Bank of Israel Governor Jacob Frankel.