Flurry of diplomacy as US seeks to regain Mideast initiative

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Bush administration is striving to regain the diplomatic initiative in the Middle East this week amid warnings the region faces a triple threat of civil war in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

President George W. Bush is personally leading the charge with hastily arranged meetings Wednesday and Thursday in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose government has been unable to halt spiralling violence between Sunnis and Shiites that is killing hundreds of people each month.

A senior official said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could follow up those talks by meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank after both sides took steps aimed at reviving their long-stalled peace talks.

Two weeks after his Republican party lost control of Congress in elections dominated by public anger over the ongoing bloodshed in Iraq, Bush is under intense pressure to find a new policy course in the Middle East.

That pressure intensified further last week when Syria and Iran, Washington's main rivals in the region, both launched initiatives to improve relations with Baghdad.

Iran, which Washington accuses of backing Shiite militia involved in some of the worst violence in Iraq, was notably hosting a visit Monday and Tuesday by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

On his arrival in Tehran, Talabani said he was seeking Iran's "comprehensive help" in stabilizing his country -- a prospect certain to cause concern in Washington where Iranian motives are viewed with deep suspicion.

Bush's powerful vice president, Dick Cheney, travelled to Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia over the weekend for talks with King Abdullah focussed on the violence in Iraq and efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Rice, who will accompany Bush in his meetings with Maliki, will hold separate talks with regional allies Thursday and Friday on Iraq, the Arab-Israeli situation and the crisis in Lebanon following the assassination of an anti-Syrian cabinet minister last week.

The burst of US diplomacy is seen in part as an effort to counter Iran's bid for a greater role in the region, where it has significant influence with Shiite militants who have been foiling US policies in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian areas.

Bush has been under growing pressure to end the policy of refusing direct engagement with Syria and Iran as part of a global Mideast peace effort.

Jordan's King Abdallah, who will also meet with Bush this week, joined the calls for a multi-pronged US approach that deals not just with Iraq but with all three crises.

"The difficulty that we're tackling with here is ... the strong potential of three civil wars in the region, whether it's the Palestinians, that of Lebanon or of Iraq," he told the US television network ABC.

"I keep saying Palestine is the core -- It is linked to the extent of what's going on in Iraq, it is linked to what's going on in Lebanon, it is linked to the issues that we find ourselves with the Syrians.

"So, if you want to do comprehensive -- comprehensive means bringing all the parties of the region together," he said.

Rice's expected meetings with Abbas and Olmert on Thursday will come after Israelis and Palestinians agreed over the weekend to observe a ceasefire following months of fighting in the Gaza Strip.

In a speech Monday, Olmert said the truce could open the way to a major prisoner exchange involving an Israeli soldier kidnapped in Gaza more than five months ago and jailed Palestinians, including some facing long prison terms.

That would then lead to negotiations in which Israel would be prepared to "withdraw from considerable territory in exchange for peace with the Palestinians," he said.

Olmert said he was ready to hold talks with Abbas if the moderate Palestinian leader can conclude a power-sharing deal with the Iranian-backed Islamist movement Hamas and form a government that renounces violence and recognizes Israel's right to exist.

Israel and the West have boycotted the Palestinian government since Hamas won control of the legislature in elections earlier this year.

The group, which the US, Europe, and Israel consider a terrorist movement, has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist.

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