The United States and Israel appeared to be in no hurry to push ahead with a new West Asia peace plan as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat accepted a British invitation to send a delegation to London for talks on peace next month.President Arafat accepted British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s offer on Monday and called on international mediators to finalise the new peace blueprint, which envisages an end to two years of violence in the region and a Palestinian state by 2005.But Israel has asked Washington to go slowly on the plan, known as the ‘‘road map,’’ until Israeli elections on January 28, and US officials have discouraged expectations that a meeting of mediators later this week will release a definitive document. The road map came up at talks on Monday in Washington between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and new Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, a hard-liner who has advocated expelling Arafat from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.‘‘They talked about how to move forward down that path to be laid out in the road map. The secretary said we continue to discuss and develop it with the Quartet this Friday,’’ a US official said. On Friday Powell hosts talks with the Quartet of West Asia mediators — the European Union, Russia, the UN and the US — to devise a timetable for steps to peace in the troubled region.Blair’s apparent attempt to move the Israeli-Palestinian conflict higher on a world agenda dominated by possible US war on Iraq met a positive response from Arafat. ‘‘I am inviting leading Palestinians to come to Britain in January to a conference along with members of the Quartet and other countries from the region,’’ Blair told the British Parliament. ‘‘(The conference) will discuss progress on reform and look at how the international community can help,’’ Blair said.Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian Cabinet minister and peace negotiator, said: ‘‘Arafat appreciated (Blair’s) letter and accepted the invitation,’’ and added that Arafat has also sent his own letter to Quartet members to urge them to ‘‘declare the road map’’ and finalise the document. In his remarks to Parliament, Blair acknowledged that in the short-term, any progress toward peace would be limited by the Israeli election next month that opinion polls show Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Right-wing Likud party will win.Sharon has said while he accepts the ‘‘road map’’ in principle, its implementation would depend on cessation of what he called Palestinian ‘‘terror, violence and incitement’’, a reference to suicide bombings.Meanwhile, Arafat has officially called for Arab League chief Amr Mussa to reactivate a committee tasked with helping to draft a Palestinian constitution, a Palestinian minister said. International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath said after talks with Mussa at the league’s headquarters in Cairo that Arafat made the request in a telephone call during their meeting. Mussa accepted immediately, he said. After approval by Palestinian MPs, the constitution will be put to a vote in a referendum, the minister said. (Reuters)
