Rebuffing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s request that the United States cut ties with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, President Bush on Thursday instead emphasized his concern over the plight of Palestinian civilians suffering under Israel’s security crackdown.
Bush did not relent in his criticism of Arafat during a 45-minute White House meeting with Sharon. He again called on Arafat to “do everything in his power” to stop Palestinian militants from attacking Israeli civilians.
“I assured the prime minister that we will continue to keep pressure on Mr. Arafat to convince him that he must take serious, concrete, real steps to reduce terrorist activity in the Middle East,” Bush said after the meeting.
But the president’s emphasis on Palestinian hardship reflected the message he has been hearing from Arab and European leaders in recent weeks: That the U.S. must address Palestinian grievances if it wants to continue its role as an honest broker in the search for Middle East peace.
The Palestinians have complained bitterly about tactics Israel has used in response to the violence Palestinian militants have unleashed during the 16-month-old uprising. More than 900 Palestinians and 260 Israelis have perished during the period, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
Those Israeli tactics include targeted killings of Palestinian militants, military incursions into Palestinian areas, the bulldozing of Palestinian homes and several security checkpoints Palestinians must negotiate to travel in and out of their territories.
Palestinian plight moves Bush
“I am deeply concerned about the plight of the average Palestinian,” Bush said, noting that his budget provides $300 million in humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.
“I worry about stories and pictures I see of people going hungry and children not being educated and deep concerns etched on the faces of moms and dads who happen to be Palestinian,” Bush said.
Sharon acknowledged that he and Bush discussed “steps that should be taken in order to improve the life conditions of those Palestinians that are not involved in terror.”
“That’s my intention. That was always my intention,” Sharon said. “And of course, we’ll try and see what can be done.”
Meeting Bush for the fourth time in the past year, the Israeli prime minister emphasized his desire to look beyond Arafat, whom the Israeli army has confined to his Ramallah headquarters, and begin dealing with new Palestinian leaders. Sharon met privately last week with three senior Palestinians to begin to do just that.
Keeping up the pressure
“Arafat has chosen [a] strategy of terror and formed a coalition of terror,” Sharon said. “Therefore, we believe that pressure should be put on Arafat. We know–there may be–I hope to have an alternative leadership in the future.”
While Bush has refused to meet with Arafat, White House aides in the hours before Sharon arrived continued to insist that the Palestinian leader remained relevant to the Middle East peace process and deflected questions about whether the administration would pursue discussions with leaders of the Palestinian Authority other than Arafat.
Israeli diplomats said Sharon also was pressing the Bush administration to list the militias and security forces under Arafat’s control, such as the Al Aqsa Brigades, as terrorist organizations alongside the Palestinian militant groups Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. There was no word of the president’s response.
Nevertheless, Sharon struck a conciliatory tone toward the Palestinians. He said that once there is “a full cessation of terror, violence and incitement,” and the Palestinian Authority arrests and disarms militants, the Israeli government is prepared to resume peace talks intended to lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Sharon: There will be peace
“Once they will take serious preventive steps and stop completely incitement, then we will start negotiations,” Sharon said.
“I believe that one day, we’ll be reaching a peace. Israel is committed to peace. And at the end of the process, I believe that a Palestinian state, of course, will be–we would see a Palestinian state.”
But, Sharon added, “it cannot be done under terror.”
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At home, the Likud leader finds himself in a delicate political situation. His approval rating is high, but not because he is greatly loved. Rather, polls indicate that many Israelis, traumatized by the surge in Palestinian violence, see no way out of the current crisis and despair over the collapse of the peace process.
In most recent polls, two-thirds of the Israeli population support Sharon’s crackdown on the Palestinians. But the same number also want to see peace talks resumed, although with guarantees that the Palestinians would not threaten Israel’s existence.
Rather than humiliating Arafat, Sharon’s crackdown has produced a surge of support. Sharon’s desire to deal with alternative Palestinian leaders is a fantasy, many Palestinians argue, because anyone who dared to step forward in Arafat’s place would be considered a traitor and an Israeli lackey.
Sharon’s view on Arafat
That is not how Sharon’s Cabinet sees the situation.
In a breakfast meeting with reporters in Washington, Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said he believes Arafat is losing the support of the Palestinian people.
“We are facing a new generation of leaders. They are not less nationalistic but more realistic,” said Ben Eliezer, a top Labor Party official in Sharon’s coalition government.
Arafat told the British Broadcasting Corp. in an interview Thursday that he was doing all he could to halt suicide bombings and other attacks against Israelis. But he said he was constrained by the Israeli military crackdown against his police and security forces. He also said he was prepared to resume peace negotiations with Israel under U.S. auspices.
“The main sponsors of the peace process are the Americans,” Arafat told BBC radio. “It started with President Bush, the father, with the [1991] Madrid conference, and we hope that President Bush, the son, will complete the mission.”