U.S. Envoy Returning to Region

Responding to escalating violence, President Bush on Thursday suddenly stepped up the administration’s involvement in the Middle East, announcing that he was dispatching his special envoy back to the region.

The president had said he would not send retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony C. Zinni on a renewed mission while Israel and the Palestinian territories were racked with violence. So, although there has been no sign of calm, Bush’s decision suggested a new urgency and the hope that the heightened violence will push both sides toward new cooperation.

Zinni will be working with Israeli and Palestinian leaders as Vice President Dick Cheney embarks on a lengthy tour of the region, reflecting the concerted effort the Bush administration is devoting to seeking peace in a region it had been skittish about approaching.

The effort follows a proposal by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia for Arab nations to move forward with formal recognition of Israel in exchange for a pullback by Israel from territories it has controlled since the 1967 Middle East War.

Bush, reading a statement to reporters in the White House Rose Garden, said Abdullah’s proposal “created an opening for discussing [a] broader peace.”

Expressing concern “about the tragic loss of life and escalating violence in the Middle East,” Bush reiterated his call for Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat “to make a maximum effort to end terrorism against Israel.” He said he was counting on all parties in the region, including Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, “to make these efforts a success.”

“The violence and tragic loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives must end,” Bush said.

In response to a question, Bush said he had no assurances, after recent consultations with leaders in the region, that a mission by Zinni would be fruitful. The envoy is expected to visit Egypt and Jordan as well as Israel and Palestinian territory.

Israel welcomed Bush’s decision, as did Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

U.S. officials said Bush reversed course--after saying for several weeks that conditions were not ripe for sending Zinni back to the Middle East--for two reasons.

The first is the escalating cycle of attacks during the last five days, a State Department official said Thursday. In less than a week, about 100 people have been killed, compared with more than 1,100 during the first 17 months of renewed violence.

“That shows a pace and a level of violence that we’ve never seen before. So a new sense of urgency and tragedy about the situation was a big factor,” said the official, who requested anonymity.

U.S. officials also conceded that dispatching Zinni could deflect the mounting criticism of the United States in the Arab world. The violence was on the verge of overtaking the original focus of the Cheney trip, which was to discuss U.S. opposition to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with Arab governments in the Middle East and Persian Gulf.

“It’s safe to say that where Cheney might have had a multiple set of talking points on a range of issues, it would have soon become a conversation in which the VP’s interlocutors wanted to discuss one issue and one alone. It [Zinni’s mission] certainly gives him something to say,” an administration official said.

Among the Arab nations, there has been pressure on the U.S. for several weeks to send Zinni back to the region. He was last there in January.

“In our conversations with them, it’s been the position of the Egyptians, Jordanians, Saudis and others that he needed to go back as soon as possible,” a senior State Department official said.

In the Rose Garden, Bush reiterated his goal that both sides accept a plan put forward by CIA Director George J. Tenet. This is a “work plan” that would bring Israel and the Palestinian Authority into cooperation on security--to the degree that existed before the latest Palestinian uprising began in September 2000. The two sides would then move ahead to broader discussions aimed at achieving a peaceful settlement.

Sharon has demanded that there be seven days of calm before the Tenet plan can go into effect. But waiting for seven days of calm is no longer viable, U.S. officials said, emphasizing that the Israelis seem to have edged away from that demand.