July 29, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1424

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WASHINGTON, July 28: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived in the United States on Monday for talks with US President George Bush that will come on the heels of a similar visit by Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas.

The Israeli premier, who may be facing his toughest White House visit to date when he sees Mr Bush on Tuesday, has announced a series of confidence-building measures to appease Washington, after Mr Abbas demanded that the Jewish state be pressured into implementing the roadmap for peace in the Middle East.

Mr Bush’s meeting with Mr Sharon will come just four days after he held similar talks with the Palestinian prime minister, in his latest bid to push forward the Middle East peace plan.

Israel is to release 540 Palestinian prisoners, including 210 hardliners, a senior official said on Sunday during a refuelling stop in England for Mr Sharon’s Washington-bound plane.

Mr Bush set at least one item on the agenda after his meeting with the Palestinian prime minister, saying a wall being built by Israel in the West Bank was “a problem” — and tapping a delicate issue for Mr Sharon.

The US National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, has already warned the Israeli leader of the president’s concern over the security fence, during a tour through the region last month.

Israel began building its 350-kilometre security fence, which towers several metres at some points, in June last year in a bid to keep Palestinians from entering the Jewish state to carry out attacks like suicide bombings.

Mr Sharon has said that he’s not ready to back down on the wall, and insists that the Palestinians arrest more militants suspected of conducting suicide attacks on Israel as a precondition for talks.

The attacks have essentially ended since Palestinian militant groups declared a truce nearly a month ago, but Mr Bush told Mr Abbas on Friday that the lull needed to become permanent.

“I’m going to tell you point-blank that we must make sure that any terrorist activity is rooted out, in order for us to be able to deal with these big issues,” the US president said.

The “big issues” include Israeli settlements, dismantling some Israeli security checkpoints, and releasing Palestinian prisoners, Mr Bush said.

The White House visit was Mr Abbas’s first, but the Israeli premier will be making his eighth trip there since he took office in March 2001.

Bush and Sharon have a good personal rapport, and US-Israeli relations are solid.

Mr Sharon’s visit gives Mr Bush a chance to personally follow up on the flurry of diplomacy last month that culminated with summits in Egypt and in Jordan, and saw quick gains in the peace effort.

President Bush likens his role in the process to trying to “herd cattle”: reminding each side of steps already taken and of commitments still to be met in the peace plan.

While the situation in Iraq has become a headache for Mr Bush, the Middle East peace effort is treating him better for the moment.

Palestinian militants have stopped their attacks, and both sides are negotiating within the framework of the US-backed roadmap that calls for the eventual creation of Palestinian state.

With his meetings with Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon coming just days apart, Mr Bush hopes to keep up the momentum while remaining a neutral figure in the process. —AFP

Soldier’s body found: The discovery of a young soldier’s body in Israel on Monday threatened to rattle a month-old truce, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reached Washington with a package of conciliatory measures towards the Palestinians.

The corpse of 20-year-old Oleg Shayhat, who went missing on July 21 after leaving his base in northern Israel, was found buried in an olive grove near two Arab villages, police said.

Although no group claimed responsibility for the killing, Israeli police have focused their investigation on Arab militants.

Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, present at a search coordination centre, told the radio that Israel would decide “what measures to take after having studied all the details of the case.”

Further tension built up on the ground ON Monday when foreign activists staged a demonstration against the separation fence being built between Israel and the West Bank that turned violent.

Five activists were wounded, although none was reported in serious condition, when Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of 500 Palestinians led by about 100 members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

They had torn down a gate in Israel’s separation fence which cuts off villages from their farmlands, plunging the area deeper into economic crisis.

The Israeli defence ministry, meanwhile, announced that it has cancelled an official ceremony which was due to inaugurate the first section of the fence on Thursday.—AFP