28 April 2005	Thursday	18 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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TEL AVIV, April 27: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived on Wednesday on the first visit to Israel by a Kremlin leader, after proposing a peace summit in Moscow to try to resolve decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr Putin’s proposal won immediate backing from Palestinians but Israel was wary, saying it would oppose any effort to circumvent the US-backed “road map” peace plan.

Earlier in the day, Mr Putin, speaking in Egypt alongside President Hosni Mubarak, gave few details of the proposal for the autumn summit but said Russia would start contacts to discuss the agenda. He said Middle East peace should be based on U.N. resolutions and the road map.

“I intend to discuss this idea with my other colleagues who are interested in moving the peace process forward in the Middle East,” he said. He would talk about it with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, he added.

Palestinians said the summit would help prepare for final peace negotiations following a ceasefire agreement and a planned Israeli withdrawal this summer from Gaza and part of the West Bank.

“We will commit and we hope it will take place,” said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose election in January to replace the late Yasser Arafat raised hopes for peacemaking.

A senior Israel official said Israel was wary about Putin’s proposal but “not against it in principle”, emphasising that Israeli commitment to the road map for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza alongside a secure Israel.

Under that plan, Palestinians are meant to dismantle militant groups while Israel freezes Jewish settlement growth.

Russia has often criticised Israel’s handling of a Palestinian uprising since 2000 and Israel has always made clear that it was happy having its US ally as by far the most important Middle East peace broker.

US REACTION: The White House expressed strong doubts that an international Middle East peace conference could be held later this year.

“We believe there will be an appropriate time for an international conference, but we are not at that stage now, and I don’t expect that we will be there by the fall,” spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. —Reuters/AFP