Posted on 06/24/2002 10:15:21 PM PDT by kattracks
June 24— By Mark Heinrich and Steve Holland
JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush has written off Yasser Arafat as part of any Middle East peace accord, saying Palestinians must pick new leaders "not compromised by terror" to attain a state alongside Israel.
Bush, presenting a long-awaited peace script, said Israel must do its part for peace too by halting settlement building on land where Palestinians are waging a revolt against occupation, and pulling tanks and troops out of Palestinian towns.
A senior Palestinian official retorted that Arafat was democratically elected and could not be ousted by foreign fiat. But a Palestinian Authority statement called Bush's address "a serious contribution" toward peace and requested more details.
A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office did not mention Bush's speech but that repeated Israel was ready for negotiations after "a total end to terror, violence and incitement," Arafat's removal and profound Palestinian reform.
Within hours of Bush's speech, Israeli tanks swept into the West Bank city of Hebron early on Tuesday and clashes broke out with Palestinian fighters, Palestinian authorities and witnesses said.
The security authorities said two Palestinians were reported to have been killed amid exchanges of fire. Hebron is the seventh West Bank center entered in the past week under an Israeli policy of re-occupying and holding Palestinian-ruled areas until attacks on Israelis cease.
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Sharon's main rival on the left in Israel's coalition government, said Bush had displayed "historic vision" by embracing a two-state solution.
That is regarded with deep suspicion by Sharon, the leading champion of settlers who consider territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war to be Jewish by biblical birthright.
The Yesha Council representing more than 200,000 settlers praised Bush's message as a "green light" for dismantling the Palestinian Authority -- effectively reinstating direct Israeli rule over the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Ismail Haniyah, a senior figure in the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas behind many suicide bombings, said Bush had merely upheld "the Zionist occupation" and Palestinians would continue to "resist" it.
ISRAELIS SEAL OFF ARAFAT COMPOUND
Hours before Bush spoke, Israeli troops sealed off Arafat's West Bank compound and killed six Palestinians in a helicopter missile strike, part of a broad military campaign against alleged suicide bombers Israel says are sponsored by Arafat.
Bush trumpeted solidarity with Israel's battle against suicide bombings that have killed scores of its civilians. His omission of any reference to Arafat bolstered Sharon's stance that the Palestinian leader had become irrelevant.
"Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership, so that a Palestinian state can be born. I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders not compromised by terror," Bush said in his White House address.
"A Palestinian state will never be created by terror. It will be built through reforms."
He laid out his vision for a provisional state called Palestine to be set up after about 18 months under tough conditions including democratic, accountable institutions and security services that would stamp out militant violence.
Many Palestinians want fresh elections and an end to the concentration of power in Arafat's hands -- he has pledged reforms himself -- but bridle at what they call U.S. and Israeli attempts to dictate who their leaders should be.
Bush said: "When the Palestinian people have new leaders, new institutions and new security arrangements with their neighbors, the United States of America will support the creation of a Palestinian state.
"For the sake of all humanity, things must change in the Middle East." But Bush did not announce any new peace mission to the region by Secretary of State Colin Powell.
MIDEAST PEACE CONFERENCE SHELVED
A Middle East peace conference below the heads-of-state level that Washington had wanted to stage this summer was essentially shelved. A senior U.S. official said that because Israeli troops had reoccupied West Bank towns and the Palestinian leadership was "in some disarray...it isn't appropriate now to talk about scheduling one."
A statement issued by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA in the name of Arafat and the Palestinian Authority welcomed Bush's ideas, but said it wanted to discuss details in bilateral talks including U.N. and European Union envoys.
"The president (Arafat) and the cabinet view the ideas as a serious contribution to pushing the peace process forward," it said. It ignored Bush's call for a change in leadership.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat rebuffed that idea.
"Palestinian leaders don't come from parachutes from Washington or anywhere else. Palestinian leaders are elected directly by the Palestinian people," Erekat told CNN.
"President Yasser Arafat was directly elected in a free and fair election...The world and President Bush must respect the democratic choice of the Palestinian people."
The Palestinian Authority statement also called for "urgent U.S. and international intervention" to make Israeli forces leave Palestinian towns, saying reforms and elections were impossible under military siege.
Bush said borders and certain aspects of the sovereignty of the new Palestinian state would be provisional until resolved as part of a final settlement.
He urged Israel to pull back to its positions before September 28, 2000 -- vacating the roughly 40 percent of the West Bank transferred to Palestinian self-rule since interim peace deals almost a decade ago.
CHRONIC VIOLENCE
Chronic Israeli-Palestinian violence has complicated Bush's long-awaited Middle East plans.
Sharon said the helicopter hit -- which killed four Hamas members, including two senior activists -- was just the start of "massive activities" planned against the militant Muslim group based in the teeming Gaza Strip along the Mediterranean.
Israeli security sources confirmed it was part of a policy -- condemned internationally -- of killing militants blamed for suicide bombings and ambushes during the 21-month-old uprising.
Shortly before the attack, Israel sent columns of tanks into Ramallah and surrounded Arafat's battered headquarters.
At least 1,422 Palestinians and 548 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000 after talks on terms for a Palestinian state reached an impasse.
Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved
Woo Hoo!
Actually, there was plenty of good news for the Palestinians. All they have to do is elect new leadership (Arafat is pretty low in the polls), crack down on the terrorists, and show that they really do want a state and they will have it. They will not only have a state, but the international community will help them to build a safe and prosperous state. If they are smart, and willing to work hard, within a few years they could raise the standard of living for themselves by 1000%.
They can have a future, their children can have a future. All they have to do is show that they really want it.
This wasn't a Presidential statement on Mideast policy as much as a bill of indictment of Arafat and co.Like a prosecutor, the President methodically layed out the case against Arafat in his long-awaited address from the Rose Garden yesterday.
He charged the Palestinian Authority (which Arafat directs) with aiding and abetting terrorism, pilfering the treasury, corruption, despotism, graft, misgovernment and other systematic, egregious abuses. While not mentioning Arafat by name -- he didn't need to -- the President denounced the P.A. as exploiters and manipulators -- for using the "Palestinian" people as pawns in a game of subterfuge, of endless deception.
"Today, Palestinian authorities are encouraging, not opposing terrorism", charged the President.
That being the case, nothing in the President's blueprint remotely envisions a role for Arafat nor the current Palestinian Authority in this 'provisional', "Palestinian" entity.
Indeed, the President explicitly called on 'Palestinians' to give Arafat & accomplices the boot -- at the ballot box.
"Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership", he observed, "so that a Palestinian state can be born. I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror."
The President wasn't calling for elections merely as a goal in itself, but elections as part of new arrangement, borne of reform encompassing the spectrum of civic and political institutions. And if Arafat is "elected", what then? All bets would be off. The call is for new leadership, regime change.
"A Palestinian state will never be created by terror. It will be built through reform. And reform must be more than cosmetic change or a veiled attempt to preserve the status quo. True reform will require entirely new political and economic institutions based on democracy, market economics and action against terrorism".
In essence, the President threw the ball back in the 'Palestinians'' court. He turned the tables, reframing the issue entirely.
You want a state? Behave like civilized folks, then. States aren't created by presidential fiat, nor executive orders from Washington. Nor are they given away on demand: Don't expect a handout. Grow up.
Physician, reform thyself.
Those hoping for a Bush sell-out of Israel were bitterly disappointed. The media and the Democrats were champing at the bit, savoring the chance to pounce on the President as a milksop, a coward, a liar -- a double-crossing, double-dealing weakling pantywaist shivering before Arafat, Big Oil, the "Arab world."
Imagine the torrent of Democrat fundraising letters to Jewish Americans: 'Dumbya sold Israel down the river, just like his daddy! This Smirking Chimp must be stopped! But who's going to stop him? We, the Democrats, that's who! So empty your wallet and send us money, now! Oh -- and vote Democrat in November, too!'
After yesterday's speech, no-one will buy it.
Instead, the President was firm, determined, resolute -- and unflinching. No attempt to draw moral equivalence, either. To Bush, there isn't any. Israel is locked in a struggle for its very survival; no-one knows this better than President Bush.
Even as IDF tanks surrounded Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, Bush reiterated steadfast support for Israeli self-defense.
"I can understand the deep anger and anguish of the Israeli people. You've lived too long with fear and funerals...The Palestinian Authority has rejected your offered hand and trafficked with terrorists. You have a right to a normal life. You have a right to security. And I deeply believe that you need a reformed, responsible Palestinian partner to achieve that security."
On Israel, Bush has never wavered, never faltered, never failed. His support is staunch, tenacious, uncompromising.
Yes, he called on Israel to halt new settlements, but not their elimination -- a key 'Palestinian' demand.
Yes, he asked that Israel "release frozen Palestinian revenues", but only into "honest, accountable hands" -- i.e., after financial reforms are in place, under close international supervision.
Yes, he asked that "freedom of movement" for 'Palestinians' "be restored", but only if and when "violence subsides".
And, yes, the President did ask for Israeli withdrawal, but not -- Repeat: Not -- to pre-'67 borders -- another key Arab demand. A retreat to Israeli positions "held prior to Sept. 28, 2000" would be suffice.
To Arafat et al, that's a slap in the face.
Moreover, Bush challenged the "Arab world" to get off their duffs, to get with the program.
"Every leader actually committed to peace will end incitement to violence in official media and publically denounce homicide bombings. Every nation actually committed to peace will stop the flow of money, equipment and recruits to terrorist groups seeking the destruction of Israel, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah."
So, let's recap:
1) The President expressed support for a provisional, "Palestinian" state, but support was very conditional: "Palestinians" would need to surmount gazillions of hurdles to achieve it.
2) And only after rigorous 'final status', negotations by immediate parties, to boot.
3) All "demands" on Israel were merely reciprocal -- corresponding to progress/reform on the "Palestinian" side.So what's the point of this exercise? Why would the President waste time with something this unachievable?
In a word, Iraq. Toppling Saddam and preventing a nuclear 9/11 -- that's what the President's attention is focused on. Arafat is a terrorist, no question about it, but Saddam Hussein poses a far greater threat to U.S. security. To Bush, there are bigger fish to fry than Arafat.
And fry he will.
Bush's Rose Garden statement allows him to 'back-burner' the Mideast -- get it 'off the table', as he shines the spotlight back on Iraq.
Bottom line: El hombre de Tejas has out-flanked his enemies, yet again.
Anyway, that's...
My two cents....
"JohnHuang2"
I agree. This is their chance. Too bad they'll probably just screw it up.
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