Jerusalem – Ariel Sharon will demand a crackdown on militants and Mahmoud Abbas will push for wide-ranging moves to ease the burdens of occupation when the Israeli and Palestinian leaders meet today for their first summit since declaring a truce in February.
The session comes amid a spike in violence and fears that a historic window of opportunity – a renewed chance for peace after 4 1/2 years of fighting – is rapidly closing.
Sharon’s plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four small West Bank settlements this summer was expected to dominate the agenda.
The bigger issues of peace and statehood are likely to remain on hold until after Israel completes its evacuation, although Palestinians want assurances the withdrawal will be followed by further Israeli pullbacks in the West Bank.
The summit follows a weekend visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who urged both sides to step up cooperation to ensure a smooth pullout.
“In some ways, from Sharon’s perspective, it’s like punching a clock,” Israeli political analyst Yossi Alpher said of the summit. “The Americans insisted this happen, so he’s doing it. I don’t think the reality will be very different after the meeting.”
The reality Monday was a bloody one. In the third attack in as many days by the extremist group Islamic Jihad, gunmen in the northern West Bank ambushed an Israeli minivan, killing one passenger and wounding another.
Israeli soldiers, meanwhile, killed a Palestinian and wounded another as they tried to scale a fence from Gaza into Israel, Palestinian hospital officials said.
And Israel’s army said it arrested a Palestinian woman who tried to blow herself up at a Gaza crossing. The military said she had been given permission to enter Israel for medical treatment.
