June 23, 2003	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 22,1424

SHUNEH (Jordan) June 22: Efforts to secure peace in the Middle East and the future of war-battered Iraq dominated the second day Sunday of an extraordinary meeting here of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The international diplomatic quartet which drafted a “roadmap” to peace between Israel and the Palestinians met to discuss implementation of the plan, and urged both sides to stop provocative action.

The meeting were attended by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Europe’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

The United States joined other leading world powers in voicing criticism of Israeli tactics in the Palestinian territories Sunday as they met to salvage a peace blueprint from escalating violence in the region.

The so-called quartet, which also includes the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, tempered its criticism of Israel with an appeal to the Palestinian leadership to do more to halt “acts of terrorism” against Israelis.

But the rare criticism drew a dismissive response from Israel, which accused the quartet of hypocrisy.

“The quartet expresses its deep concern over Israeli military actions that result in the killing of innocent Palestinian and other civilians,” the quartet said in its statement that was read by UN chief Kofi Annan.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell hammered home the point, explicitly criticising Israel’s killing of a Palestinian militant leader on Saturday.

“I regret that once again we had an incident that could be an impediment to progress,” he said, repeating Washington’s stance that such moves were only appropriate if Israel knew the target was planning an imminent attack.

In the corridors of the five star hotels on the shores of the Dead Sea, diplomatic activity buzzed as Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom met separately with his Jordanian and Egyptian counterparts. Following talks with Marwan Moasher of Jordan, Shalom said Israel was ready to hand over control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Bethlehem if the Palestinians assumed responsibility to “stop terrorism and violence”.

Shalom also announced a groundbreaking visit with the crown prince of Bahrain, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, saying it was his “first meeting” with an official from the tiny Gulf kingdom.

The UN chief also focussed on Iraq, meeting the country’s US overseer Paul Bremer and announcing that a “preparatory conference” on Iraq’s post-war reconstruction would be held at UN headquarters in New York next week.

“I hope (the conference) will also lead the donor community to be generous,” Annan said, adding that Iraq desperately needed the jobs that the rebuilding effort would create.

Annan said the UN and its special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello were “working very closely” with Bremer to ensure a “smooth transition from the (US-led) coalition to the creation of an Iraqi government”.

The US overseer has said he will appoint an interim administration next month but has stressed that ultimate authority will rest with the US-led coalition—AFP