Posted on 02/01/2002 4:18:44 AM PST by veronica
The United States, bitterly disenchanted with Yasser Arafat, is withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinian Authority.
After the Wye agreement in October 1998, the Clinton Administration earmarked about $1.2 billion for Israel and $500 million for the PA. Most of the money for the Palestinians has never been delivered; neither has $30 million designated for Palestinian NGOs.
Indeed, the Bush Administration is now understood to be reassessing its overall policy on Arafat. While still pressing the PA chairman in late January to block intifada violence, it has effectively suspended the mediation efforts of former general Anthony Zinni.
According to Israeli diplomats, the Americans have interpreted the thwarted gunrunning bid of the Karine A arms ship as a clear sign that the PA was planning to escalate the intifada into a Hizballah-style war of attrition.
Congress, which has to endorse aid appropriations, is understood to be even angrier with Arafat and that will make it hard for the Administration if it tries to renew the PLO's diplomatic status, which comes up for legislative review in April. Israeli diplomats suspect that only fear of creating a vacuum is inhibiting the White House from canceling that status on its own initiative.
A senior American official recently told one of his Palestinian counterparts that Arafat had made the biggest mistake in the history of the Palestinian national movement when he rejected Ehud Barak's offer at Camp David in July 2000.
And the Bush team argues that no previous administration has been as forthcoming as it has in backing Palestinian statehood, spelling out its vision of a final-status agreement and dispatching mediators.
Now Bush has the moral authority to call terrorists evil. He conducted the Afghan war with a minimum of death and destruction -- surprising everyone. Now he is calling the Islamists evil, with the full backing of the American people. It will have an effect.
What makes this even worse is that Bush has put Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Hizbollah on his hit list. Clinton was smart enough never to do that. I bet Democrats get 90% of the Jewish vote after all this.
It is ok to dream, so keep on dreamming. Even is that was the case, Bush is doing the right thing. That is called 'principles', something the rapist-traitor clinton will never have.
They're terrorist groups and belong there. GWB acted from concern for America. Clinton concern was Clinton. He may well have left them off as a favor to some of the Islamic groups that were contributors, I dont know.
Republicans always do the right thing regarding Israel. Republicans sponsored the bill which built the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.
And they always get kicked in the teeth for their efforts.
(Hopefully.)
Also we should confiscate the estimated $120 million that Arafat personally has embezzled into his own private Swiss accounts. Suha has been living high in Paris on this: I think she should have to go to Chappaqua and room with her pal Hitlery.
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