Nearly three months after the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis was supposed to usher in new cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad yesterday accused Israel of having "not done a thing materially on the ground to help my government."
Fayyad, in comments during an appearance at the Aspen Institute and in a separate interview, said Israeli officials often shower him with praise, then take no concrete steps on dismantling security roadblocks or restraining the growth of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. "You see no change in the way that Israel operates," he said.
"Atmospheres are much better, [but] checkpoints have increased, not decreased. We have good meetings, friendly meetings. A lot of promises of 'We will think about this, this makes sense,' " he said. "I am happy when somebody tells you you are making sense. I would be a damn lot happier when I see things begin to happen."
In the interview, Fayyad insisted that his comments were "not meant to be pejorative. This is the reality. I am just trying to state it as it is."
A number of Israel officials, including Ambassador Sallai Meridor, were in the audience when Fayyad spoke at Aspen. An Israel official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he did not want a public spat, strongly disagreed with Fayyad's assessment. He said Israel has released Palestinian prisoners, transferred Palestinian tax revenue, signed agreements on industrial zones and handed over security responsibility of some Palestinian areas.
"Israel's made a strategic decision to help strengthen the Palestinian Authority in an effort to cooperate in fighting terrorism and reaching a historic compromise of two states for two peoples," the official said. "Unfortunately, Palestinian terror continues against Israeli citizens, including by elements affiliated with the Palestinian Authority."
Three recent terrorism attacks against Israelis were committed by members of the Palestinian security services, the official charged.
"You have to overcome years of mistrust," Fayyad acknowledged. "I am trying to tell them is this is a new period. If something bad happens, I feel bad, but it is not policy. This is a big difference."
Fayyad, a former economist with the International Monetary Fund, enjoys good relations with U.S. officials. He is visiting Washington this week to meet with U.S. officials -- including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President Bush -- and to promote a new public-private partnership to create educational and economic opportunities for Palestinian youth, such as refurbishing West Bank youth centers in Nablus, in Hebron and in Ramallah.
The Annapolis conference, which was hosted by Bush and included many of Israel's Arab neighbors, was intended to launch peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Bush visited the region last month, and Rice is scheduled to visit next month, but the talks appeared to have made little progress.
Fayyad, who serves under President Mahmoud Abbas, has attempted to institute a series of governance reforms, including trimming the Palestinian Authority's bloated government payroll and bolstering security cooperation with Israel.
As the process has bogged down, Bush has shifted his rhetoric on the prospects for a breakthrough. In Israel, he said, "I believe it's going to happen, that there will be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office." But during his subsequent State of the Union address, the president offered a more nuanced goal: an effort "that defines a Palestinian state by the end of this year."
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