Russian FM: Putin's Proposal Was 'Misunderstood'
Israel Refuses Moscow's Security Aid to PNA, Rebuffs Similar US Proposal
30 April 2005

Palestine Media Center - PMC [Official arm of the PA]
www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=867

Following a two-hour meeting in Ramallah Friday, Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas said the conditions "are ripe" for convening of an
international conference in Moscow in autumn, which President Vladimir Putin
indicated it would not be "a summit but a meeting of high-level experts."

"We welcome the convening of an international conference," Abbas told a
joint news conference with Putin. "The conditions are ripe," he added on
Friday.

Putin proposed in Cairo Wednesday to host an international Middle East peace
conference in Moscow in the fall, but the United States and Israel rejected
the proposal as premature and the Russian foreign minister said in Israel
next day that Putin's statement was "misunderstood" and Israeli and US media
interpreted this as backtracking from Putin's Cairo announcement.

"We have not renounced our proposition to hold an international meeting in
Moscow in the autumn for a resolution to the Middle East" conflict, the
Russian leader said in Ramallah.

However Putin explained that his proposal was "not a summit but a meeting of
high-level experts."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov said the proposal had been
"misunderstood" and that Russia was proposing a meeting of experts, not
leaders from the countries involved, the BBC reported.

"It was a misunderstanding of course," Lavrov said in Israel during the
first visit by a Kremlin leader to the Jewish state.

Lavrov said that Putin "proposed to think about holding a meeting of experts
at a high level in the context of continuing the Israeli-Palestinian peace
process ... There's nothing unusual in this."

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told NBC News: "We will
have a Quartet meeting at the level of foreign ministers in Moscow on May
8th or 9th during the events there" to commemorate the end of World War II.
"The Russians can be a part of this process in that way."

Israel had said that it was wary of Putin's proposal and turned it down.

PNA's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Friday that the Israeli opposition
"is a clear sign that Israel does not want to see any progress in the peace
process."

Abbas Urges Putin to Give Full Mandate to Wolfensohn

Abbas reiterated the Palestinians' commitment to the UN-adopted "roadmap"
peace plan and said his government was willing to coordinate with Israel
over the upcoming pullout of Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and the illegal
Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip.

"In London we confirmed our full dedication to the implementation to the
roadmap on a parallel track with the Israeli side," he said in reference to
his attendance at a conference in London at the beginning of March.

Abbas warned that without a "political horizon" toward Palestinian
independence, new violence could break out.

"Despite the fact that disengagement (the Gaza pullout) is a unilateral plan
we have announced our readiness to coordinate with the Israelis so this
pullout will be part of the roadmap," Abbas told reporters.

The Palestinian leader also welcomed the recent appointment of outgoing
World Bank chief James Wolfensohn as the Quartet's envoy to help in the
Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

"We hope from your excellency (Putin) that the quartet ... will give Mr
Wolfensohn a full mandate to implement the roadmap."

"We are committed to the implementation of a just peace with our Israeli
neighbors and do not want to miss the opportunity which has presented
itself," Abbas added.

Putin Pledges Aid to PNA

Separately Putin promised to give equipment and training to Palestinian
security forces and offered help to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Putin, the first Kremlin leader to visit the Occupied Palestinian Territory
(OPT) and Israel, held talks with the President of the Palestinian National
Authority (PNA) in the West Bank city of Ramallah following a day of
negotiations with Israeli officials and a two-day stop in Egypt.

The Russian leader, who was welcomed with a red carpet and an honor guard
that played his country's national anthem, laid a wreath at the grave of the
late Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat.

"We support the efforts of President Abbas to reform the security services
and fight against terrorism," Putin told the news conference.

"Russia will continue to offer aid to the Palestinian Authority to implement
reforms and construct a state," he said, confirming that Russia would
provide military training and equipment to Palestinian security forces.

"We will give the Palestinian leadership technical help and deliveries of
(military) equipment and training," Putin said, promising "aviation
technology" and helicopters would come first.

He offered to sell 50 armored personnel carriers.

Alluding to Israeli fears, Putin said the Israelis understood that "today's
Palestinian leadership should have the necessary resources."

"If we expect chairman Abbas to fight terrorism effectively, he can't do it
with slingshots and stones. We must understand this," he indicated.

"We will render assistance to the Palestinian leadership in hardware
supplies and personnel training. At the first stage, we will deliver
rotary-wing aircraft and telecommunications, and provide Moscow-based
training of security and police officers," he said.

Abbas ordered Palestinian security forces to use force against those who
violate "the Palestinian national consensus."

"All the Palestinian factions and militant groups have committed themselves
to a Hudna (ceasefire) and the role of the Palestinian National Authority
(PNA) is to protect this ceasefire and impose discipline in our
territories," said Abbas.

Abbas also condemned Israel for disabling the Palestinian security forces.

"Israel has destroyed all the Palestinian security headquarters in the
Palestinian territories over the past four years of Intifada (uprising)," he
said.

Israeli approval of Putin's plan appears unlikely. The Israeli daily Haaretz
reported there is no way the carriers can be delivered without Israeli
consent, given that Israel, the Occupying Power, controls all land borders
to the OPC.

An Israeli government source said this week that Israel would not allow the
troop carriers into the country. "First let's see some steps toward peace
and then it will be possible to strengthen the Palestinian security forces,
which are meanwhile taking part in fighting against us," the source said.
"The entry of any weapons to the territories requires our agreement and we
do not want to see armored vehicles pitted against us."

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa said Russia would provide the
Palestinians with two helicopters, which would be used to transport Abbas,
adding that talks on providing the PNA with armored vehicles will continue.

Abu Rudaineh expressed astonishment at Israel's opposition to Putin's offer
to give 50 armored vehicles to Palestinian security forces and two transport
helicopters to Abbas.

"We have officially asked the Quartet committee to press Israel to let the
Palestinians rebuild security apparatuses battered by Israel over the last
four years of violence," he said.

Abbas, who once lived and studied in Russia, used his first overseas trip
after being elected Arafat's successor last January to visit Russia, which
he said was testament to Russia's key role in the Middle East.

Israel Rebuffs US Proposal to Arm Palestinian police

Meanwhile Israel has rebuffed a US proposal to arm Palestinian police
officers in the West Bank to help put an end to the rampant lawlessness in
the territory, the Haaretz daily reported.

It is understood that two senior envoys from Washington, Elliot Abrams and
David Welch, put forward the suggestion during a recent visit in a bid to
strengthen Abbas, who has made internal security one of his top priorities.

A senior US envoy in the region, Lt.-Gen. William Ward, reportedly asked
Israeli officials this week if they would oppose the Russian armored vehicle
deal. The Israelis said they objected, questioning the Palestinians' need
for such vehicles and demanding that Abbas disarm Palestinian wanted men,
the officials said.