Newsletter No. 299
News-Analysis
June 9, 2006

 

KOIZUMI WANTS ONE MORE SHOT AT A VISIT TO ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

On the 5th, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters that he was still hoping to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories before he steps down in September.

The idea is that he may make a short visit around July 12th or 13th immediately before he arrives in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the G-8 Summit. The plan is not firm yet, but Koizumi declared, “If the timing is appropriate, I’d like to go.”

It will be recalled that Koizumi’s hope to play an important role in assisting Arab-Israeli peace has been frustrated on several occasions by bad timing. He wanted a meeting between Sharon and Abbas in Tokyo last year, but it couldn’t be arranged. Although President Abbas came to Japan last May, Prime Minister Sharon was too occupied with the Gaza pullout. Koizumi was later planning to visit Israel and Palestine this January, but Sharon’s stroke put an end to that project too.

Clearly, this idea of getting personally involved in Arab-Israeli peacemaking has been on Koizumi’s mind for some time, and it’s one bit of unfinished business that he’d like to take care of before the “Koizumi Era” comes to an end.