Washington, Apr 26: The US will have a central role in implementing the Middle East road map for an independent Palestine while the other three members of the "quartet" chalking it out - the EU, United Nations and Russia – will serve as "secondary players". Under the new draft plan, the on-the-ground monitoring committee for measuring performance would be chaired by a US official, the Washington Post reported today.
Virtually all aspects of the plan's implementation would be handled by the US-led committee, though it would draft confidential reports that would be forwarded to representatives of the EU, the UN and Russia, the newspaper said.
Equal involvement of all four parties had come under fire from US conservatives, who said the Europeans, Russians and the UN were being given too much of a say in whether the peace process is working.
Among the issues the US-led committee would track are the implementation of security measures by the Palestinians, the reform of Palestinian security services, the building of Palestinian institutions, the reform of the Palestinian authority's finances, the dismantling of Israeli settlement outposts erected since March 2001 and a freeze on Israeli settlement activity.
The roadmap, which seeks to create a full-fledged Palestinian state in three years in stages, is to be published as soon as the newly appointed prime minister Mahmoud Abbas or Abu Mazen and his cabinet are confirmed.
Secretary of State Colin Powell could leave as early as next week on a middle east tour to relaunch the peace process there, US officials said. Bureau Report