Bush team to rethink Oslo accords, peace process

WASHINGTON — The United States plans to review the 1993 Oslo accords amid increasing criticism of how Israel and the Palestinians dealt with the prospect of peace.

U.S. officials said the incoming administration of President-elect George W. Bush is likely to take a more deliberate approach to efforts to reach agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. They said the approach would ensure a comprehensive approach that considers Arab allies in the Middle East as well as benefits for ordinary Israelis and Palestinians. Bush's Middle East peace policy, officials said, would stress the need for an Israeli accord with Syria and maintain Washington's friendship with its allies in the Arab world. They said Bush would be more cautious than his predecessor.

"We will do our part to keep the peace process moving forward," U.S. Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell told a Senate confirmation hearing. "We seek a lasting peace, as have all previous administrations, based on unshakable support for the security of Israel, the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, our friendships in the Arab world, and a hard-headed recognition that the parties themselves must make the peace."

The secretary-designate said the United States would insist on an end to the violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a condition for peace talks.

"You can't successfully pursue peace amidst such violence," Powell said. U.S. officials said Bush is likely to adopt the peace plan submitted by President Bill Clinton. They said Bush and Powell view the Clinton's proposals as a reflection of traditional U.S. positions in the Middle East.

The Bush approach will be launched as Clinton's Middle East peace envoy, Dennis Ross, leaves office later this month. Ross spent thousands of hours with Israeli and Palestinian officials in efforts to achieve both interim and final status accords.

The Palestinian Authority, Ross said, failed to prepare its people for peace. He said the PA viewed its "sense of grievance" as an "ongoing pressure to try to resolve things. But the Palestinian Authority I think has got to do much more to socialize peaceful attitudes on the one hand -- not socialize hostility on the other."

The U.S. diplomat said Israel contributed to Palestinian anger by what he termed was the demolition of homes, confiscation of lands and expansion of Jewish settlements.

Ross said the mini-war in the West Bank and Gaza Strip could intensify. But he said the last six months of negotiations between Israel and the PA have "demystified" such issues as the future of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

"Even when I say that we have laid the foundations for eventual agreement, if you don't get an agreement now it may take several years before you can get back to that point," Ross said. "And in the meantime, the only difference would be not the outcome; it will be the number of victims."