U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will arrive in Israel on Wednesday and hold three days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to try and rescue the Mideast peace process.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he expected Albright to come with "a clear understanding that in this situation, security is the key to peace just as security was the key to peace in the years of the Cold War.''
Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai said it was now up to the Palestinians to prove that they want to make peace with Israel. "Are they able to wage war on terrorism or are they shaking off their responsibility and the agreement they signed?'' he said.
Ahead of the Albright visit, Israel's government issued a four-page list of demands to be handed to the secretary of state. Many items on the list were familiar, such as demands to round up Islamic militants and cut off their funding.
However, Israel also raised new issues, such as reducing the number of Palestinian policemen and dismissing the police chief who is suspected by Israel of having incited his men to attack Israelis.
Israeli-Palestinian relations deteriorated further last week after Islamic militants carried out a triple suicide bombing in Jerusalem and Netanyahu announced he would freeze the scheduled handover of more West Bank land.
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Cabinet, said Tuesday that Albright must address what she said were the reasons for the crisis, including the expansion of Jewish settlements and prolonged closures of Palestinian areas.
"Security is not a goal in itself,'' Ashrawi said. "The pressure should be directed at the government of Israel, which is refusing the implement the interim [peace] agreements.''
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