US ME security coordinator won't present document detailing Israel's security needs following PA state.
By HERB KEINONjones rice 224.88(photo credit: AP)
US Middle East security coordinator James L. Jones, long expected to produce a document spelling out Israel's security needs after the creation of a Palestinian state, will not in the end present the Bush administration with a large-scale report, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
"There is not going to be any Jones report that lays out the whole strategic vision of what a post-agreement reality would look like," one US official said. "There is not going to be one consolidated report."
Rather than codifying America's conception of Israel's security needs into one document that would then be a guidepost for US Middle East policy, Jones is instead relaying his impressions to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice through memos and briefings, diplomatic sources said.
Ever since Jones was appointed last November, the expectation in Jerusalem has been that he would present a broad report that would go a long way toward defining US policy in the region. There had been concern in Israel that this document could become a source of friction between Jerusalem and Washington, especially if Israel's assessment of its security needs differed from Jones's.
These concerns grew in recent weeks as it became increasingly likely Jones would fill a top slot in either a future Obama or McCain administration, and therefore his assessments and conceptions would likely "roll over" to the next administration.
This summer Jones, a retired general whose previous positions included US Marine Corps commandant and NATO supreme allied commander, was reportedly on Barack Obama's shortlist of vice presidential candidates, and has since been mentioned periodically as a possible national security adviser in an Obama administration.
As a sign of how widely Jones is respected in Washington, he is also considered to be close to McCain, who has indicated he would also like to give Jones a key role.
The net result, according to sources in Jerusalem, is that since Jones is likely to be a significant player in the next administration, regardless of who wins the elections on Tuesday, his assessments were not likely to lose currency when US President George W. Bush leaves office on January 20.
The significance of Jones not writing a "definitive" document, according to one official, is that "there is not now going to be one big report, nothing set in stone that - even if people don't like - they would be stuck with."
Jones was appointed by Rice after last November's Annapolis conference. Among the questions he is believed to be addressing in various degrees are the extent to which a future Palestinian state would have to be demilitarized, the security relationship between the new Palestinian state and Jordan, the nature of the law enforcement and judicial system in the Palestinian Authority, the size of the future Palestinian security apparatus, and the nature and location of early-warning systems that Israel would require.
Jones, who comes here periodically and was last in the country in September, was originally expected to have completed the document by the end of the summer.
Diplomatic sources said that Jones's role, never clearly defined, had evolved over the year, and that he had gone from concentrating on looking at regional security issues after a Palestinian state was established, to helping prepare the ground for a Palestinian state.
For example, diplomatic sources said Jones had substantial input into the plan to transfer security authority in the Jenin area to the PA, trying to use that as a catalyst for showing positive movement that would then help convince people of the viability of a two-state solution.
Jones is one of three US military men currently deeply involved in the diplomatic process. Another, Lt.-Gen. William Fraser, widely referred to as the roadmap monitor, was recently promoted to vice chief of Staff of the US Air Force, and replaced by Lt.-Gen. Paul Selva. Selva was here in his new capacity for the first time last week.
Like Jones's mission, there were originally expectations that Fraser would also produce reports, but in his case reports on how the sides were fulfilling their roadmap obligations. However, no reports were publicized, and Fraser opted instead to work discreetly on the matter with the sides themselves and with Rice.
The third general heavily involved in the process is Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton, who has been referred to as the "force provider," charged with training and equipping the Palestinian forces so they are eventually capable of talking over security control in the PA.
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