Israel’s ruling Likud Party has dealt a new blow to US-led Middle East peacemaking efforts, stonewalling Washington’s thrust for a Palestinian state and fueling American, European and Arab anger.
A Likud Party convention in Tel Aviv late on Sunday voted overwhelmingly to block the creation of a Palestinian state, in a move that marked a victory for right-wing former Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a looming battle for the party leadership.
The vote prompted the United States, Israel’s strongest ally, to reiterate that it supports the establishment of an eventual Palestinian state.
President George W. Bush “continues to believe that the best route to peace is through the creation of the state of Palestine and side-by-side security with Israel,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
“That’s what the president wants. That’s what the president will continue to push for,” Fleischer added. “Beyond that, I don’t comment on internal domestic politics. Every nation has its share of internal domestic politics.”
The Spanish presidency of the European Union criticized the motion, but the EU’s executive Commission downplayed its significance.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique said a Palestinian state remained “the only solution” to the Middle East conflict.
“It is a pity,” said Pique, “because all of us know that the only solution to this conflict is to create a Palestinian state that is viable from the economic and territorial point of view.”
A spokesman for the European Commission said the Likud vote reflected “the position of a political party.”
“What concerns us is the position of the Israeli government. Our position is quite clear. It is that of the United States, that we must work toward having two states (Israeli and Palestinian) side by side, living in peace and security,” the Commission said.
The Middle East crisis dominated Monday’s monthly meeting of the 15 EU foreign ministers, with several ministers expressing concern about  Likud’s decision.
“There is widespread recognition across the Middle East including in Israel that the only viable and safe solution (to the conflict) … is a two-state solution, a secure state of Israel alongside a viable and democratic state of Palestine,” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana echoed Straw’s view and added that the Likud decision could only complicate efforts to restart the peace process.
“It is very sad when the internal politics of a political party can interfere in the search for peace,” he said.
But Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh played down the Likud vote, which is widely seen as part of a drive by Netanyahu to replace Sharon.
“The decision by Likud does not mean there won’t be a Palestinian state. Sharon’s room for maneuver will be limited, but he is bound by international agreements to accept a Palestinian state,” Lindh told reporters.
Meanwhile, Pope John Paul II’s spokesman on foreign affairs denounced the vote as “very worrying.”
“It’s very worrying because the peace process in the Middle East, as everyone knows, has as its objective two independent states with secure borders,” said the Vatican’s foreign minister, Monsignor Jean Louis Tauran.
“It’s obvious that a decision like that taken in Israel is not a good sign,” Tauran said at a conference in Rome.
For their part, Palestinian and Arab officials harshly criticized the motion and fretted that it would undercut new peace efforts, although Egypt dismissed its long-term impact.
The creation of a future Palestinian state “is not the Likud’s business but only the business of the Palestinian people,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters in Cairo.
“We were not expecting the Likud to issue a decision, nor were we waiting or wanting any decision from it to support or reject the creation of the Palestinian state,” he added.
Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, said the vote was “not useful or productive” and said Israel could
not enter peace talks with Arabs based on that position.
In the West Bank, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who left Ramallah for the first time in five months Monday to view the extent of Israel’s latest offensive,  said  the vote amounted to the “destruction” of the 1993 Oslo Accords, and his senior adviser, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said it undermined  diplomatic efforts to find a way out of the cycle of violence.
“It does not even serve the effort that is being done to resume the peace process and it endangers the stability in the region,” Abu Rudeina said.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the measure demonstrated “what kind of people we are dealing with in the Likud Party and the Israeli government.”
Arab officials and commentators for government newspapers noted how the vote coincided with growing Arab optimism that the US administration was applying pressure on Israel to end the spiral of violence which has claimed more than 2,000 lives and sent regional tensions soaring.
Jordananian government spokesman Mohammad Adwan expressed concern.
“Likud’s decision means that this party is not concerned with  the establishment of peace in the region or an end to the spiral of violence,” he said. ­ With agencies

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