Japan PM leaves for Mideast to call for peace

Tokyo, Jul 11: Leaving behind a region set on edge by North Korean missile launches, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi today departed for an increasingly tense West Asia to call for more efforts towards regional peace.

Japan has long felt it has a special role to play as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians since it lacks much of the political baggage of the United States, allowing for warmer ties with Arab nations.

This holds true more than ever now given the increasing tensions in the area since the militant Hamas group took power in Palestine in March, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

Mr Koizumi will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before heading to Jordan and talks with King Abdullah.

On July 15, he heads for the G8 summit of advanced nations in Russia, where the nuclear programmes of North Korea and Iran are expected to be on the agenda.

Israel, which launched an offensive into the Gaza Strip after Palestinian gunmen abducted an Israeli soldier late last month, has vowed to pursue air and ground assaults.

''It's true that the atmosphere in West Asia now may not be conducive to discussions, but the long-term road both nations are on remains the same, and talks are the only solution,'' the Foreign Ministry official said at a briefing ahead of the trip.

Japan is the second largest aid donor to Palestine on a country basis after the United States, and Prime Minister Koizumi is likely to offer Palestine fresh humanitarian aid through international organisations, the same way some 70 per cent of the 844 million dollars Japan has given Palestine since 1993 has been dispensed.

''As a result, we haven't really had to change our aid stance since Hamas took power,'' the official said.

''Besides, President Abbas is not from Hamas.'' Political analysts said Koizumi may be using the visit as a distraction from other areas where diplomacy is not going so well, notably Japan's relations with China and North and South Koreas as well as Tokyo's so-far failed efforts to win permanent membership on the U N Security Council.

''He won't be meeting any people from Hamas out of consideration for the United States and Israel, and without that, the visit is completely meaningless,'' said Osamu Miyata, a professor at the University of Shizuoka in central Japan.

''It appears he's mainly going to improve his own image.'' Mr Koizumi had planned a similar trip in January but the visit was postponed after Israel's then-prime minister, Ariel Sharon, suffered a massive stroke.

The last time a Japanese prime minister visited Israel was 1995.

REUTERS