JERUSALEM – Israel issued a rare criticism of the United States yesterday, saying Secretary of State Colin Powell should stay away from the architects of a proposed “Geneva accord” Mideast peace pact.
But Powell shot back that he had a responsibility to talk to anyone with a plan to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I am the American secretary of state. I have an obligation . . . to listen to individuals who have interesting ideas,” Powell told reporters during a trip to Tunisia.
The squabble was prompted by Monday’s launch of the “Geneva accord,” a peace plan secretly negotiated by Palestinian officials and leftist Israeli critics of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Supporters of the plan said Powell, who indicated support for the plan last month, will give it a symbolic boost by meeting with its chief negotiators, Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Israeli officials were described as trying intently to head off the meeting.
Yesterday Israel’s Vice Premier, Ehud Olmert, called it “a mistake.”
“I think this is a wrong step by a representative of the American administration,” Olmert said.
The “Geneva accord” goes well beyond the U.S.-sponsored Mideast “road map” by carving a Palestinian state out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and ceding half of Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak denounced it yesterday, telling Israeli TV it “is an illusion.”
“It contains only concessions by Israel,” said Barak, who led the last round of peace talks with Yasser Arafat in early 2001.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said he hopes to have a proposed truce by Palestinian militant groups after the groups meet in Cairo later this week.
With Post Wire Services