Word: zinni
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...diplomatic offensive, which featured the strongest criticisms of Israel by any U.S. Administration in more than a decade. By the weekend Cheney aides were scrambling to arrange a meeting between the Vice President and Palestinian officials. An Administration official told TIME that Bush decided to send special envoy Anthony Zinni back to the region partly because "there was a danger that the violence could hijack the Cheney trip. We thought it was useful to show we were dealing with all these issues." After privately chiding Sharon for his campaign against Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, the U.S. last week...
...Arafat is not taking the bait. The erstwhile prisoner of Ramallah demanded (and, in substantial part, received) an Israeli withdrawal from recently reoccupied Palestinian towns as a precondition for talks, but even then was in no hurry to commit himself to General Anthony Zinni's cease-fire plan...
Violence and diplomacy often go together in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship. But the problem facing U.S. General Anthony Zinni's Middle East mediation efforts is the extent to which violence has become a brutal form of negotiation. Vice President Dick Cheney joined Zinni in Israel Monday in an urgent effort to arrange a cease-fire, and Israel's military withdrawal overnight from recently reoccupied Palestinian areas suggested the mission was making progress. But while the U.S. and Israel might be content with simply avoiding a repeat of the bloodbath of the past two weeks, Yasser Arafat needs more - a resumption...
Against that backdrop, and with Washington sending Zinni back to the region, it makes sense for Sharon to offer at least an opening for negotiations. And therein lies the region's only hope. The alternative is continued escalation of the mutual bludgeoning as each side tries to bloody the other into submission. In the Knesset's cafeteria last week, Sharon asserted, "In the current situation, it's either them or us." But it is never only one side that suffers. It is always both...
...Cheney's effort was undermined from the outset by Washington's low credibility in the Arab world. One senior Arab diplomat called Washington's policy toward the Palestinians "confused," and dismissed the idea of attacking Iraq as "ridiculous" and "disastrous." Although Arab officials welcomed Zinni's mission as a first step, the reaction to Cheney's tour ranged from puzzlement to scorn. And there is considerable anger that the administration allowed the bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians to reach unprecedented levels before intervening, despite many months of Arab allies pleading with Washington to do something...