Posted on 06/25/2002 3:42:39 PM PDT by Phil V.
Bush to press for Arafat's ouster at G-8
US President George W. Bush plans to try to persuade his allies at the G-8 summit opening in Canada today that they, too, should urge the Palestinians to rid themselves of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and elect new leadership, US officials said yesterday.
While European leaders said publicly they would not advocate Arafat's ouster, a senior administration official said nevertheless there was "no doubt" Bush would try to persuade his European allies to do so. "Obviously we would want to have our international partners [on board]," the official said.
In his Middle East address on Monday, Bush made a strong appeal to the Palestinians to replace their current leadership, which he said is "corrupted by terrorism," and made the election of fresh leadership one of several preconditions for US recognition of a Palestinian state, provisional or permanent.
US officials said yesterday the decision to call for new Palestinian leadership emanated from last week's suicide bombings, particularly the one in Jerusalem carried out by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Arafat's Fatah Tanzim militias.
"I think the violence changed the character of the speech," a senior administration official said Monday evening.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, one of Arafat's last defenders in the administration, said in an interview: "You saw the bombing start, and saw credit being claimed by organizations that frankly were still in touch with the [Arafat] leadership."
The senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post yesterday: "You had the two suicide bombings, the first of which was claimed by Islamic Jihad, but the second of which was carried out by Aksa Martyrs Brigades. The fact that it was Aksa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of the Tanzim, came at a time when it was becoming very clear to us that Arafat, to say the least, wasn't do anything to exert control over Aksa, and in fact may have been encouraging their actions.
"He continued to play his double game," the official continued. "It was very clear to us that Arafat, to be most generous, wasn't doing anything to help. And we decided at that point that we needed to take a tougher line."
Until Monday, Bush had tried to marginalize Arafat by encouraging new leaders to emerge and by refraining from mentioning him by name. But officials, primarily Powell, continued to emphasize that Arafat was the elected leader of the Palestinian people and that the US would continue to work with him and the rest of the PA leadership.
Now the US has shifted its focus away from Arafat and toward the still somewhat vague concept of Palestinian institution building. Though the administration has no plan for democratic reform, one of several prerequisites outlined by Bush for US endorsement of Palestinian statehood, officials said yesterday they believed the US could support a Palestinian state with provisional borders within 18 months.
Bush, in his address, laid out the possibility of completing final status talks on issues such as refugees and final borders within three years, a phrase officials insisted yesterday satisfied Arab calls for a timeframe for negotiations.
As was inferable from Bush's speech, the US officials acknowledged yesterday that a regional summertime ministerial summit has been shelved for the moment and will not take place, if at all, at least until the autumn.
Reacting to criticism that Bush's speech took Israel's needs into account more than the Palestinians', the senior US official said: "This is serious. This is the United States giving its imprimatur to statehood relatively early in the process."
Powell, in an interview, stressed Israel's "responsibilities."
"Look at the Israeli responsibilities. It's everything people have been asking for: ease the restrictions [on Palestinian movement]; end the occupation on the basis of land for peace and Resolutions 242 and 338; settlement activity must end... There are a lot of things in there that I think [Palestinians] will respond positively to."
Still, there was no doubt that the speech reflected primarily Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's thinking: that Palestinian terrorism must end before any serious peace negotiations begin, and that Arafat is an unworkable partner for peace.
One source who previewed drafts of the speech said the earlier versions did not outline as many pre-conditions for statehood, illustrating that the speech was heavily rewritten over the weekend.
"It wasn't quite as conditional. The president's sense and his instincts won out," the official said. "Before it was more like Palestinians will stop terror. Israel will volunteer to stop settlement activities. And the Palestinians get a state."The senior official said the US had not yet decided how to follow up the president's remarks.
"Operationally, we're still sorting out what's the best next step. We want there to be a little bit of time for people to internalize it over the next few days," the official said.Internationally, Bush's speech received words of praise, but his call for a change in Palestinian leadership received no endorsement from the European Union, the United Nations, or Russia.
Arafat yesterday brushed off the remarks, saying it is up to Palestinians to decide the matter in elections."This is what my people will decide. They are the only ones who can determine this," Arafat said after meeting the French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin at his besieged Ramallah compound.
When asked if he thought Bush was calling for his removal, Arafat answered, "definitely not."
An adviser to Arafat said the Palestinian leader preferred to ignore Bush's call for new leadership, and focus on the positive aspects of the speech to avoid a confrontation with the Americans."I do not believe that Bush means that Arafat should be replaced by an Israeli military coup... he is talking about reforming the PA and democratic elections, so it will be up to the Palestinian people to decide whom they will elect," said Arafat adviser Bassam Abu Sharif.
If the Palestinians reelect Arafat, the international community will have to deal with him, Abu Sharif added.
Another Arafat aide, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, said the Palestinians will today announce their reform plans and dates for municipal, legislative, and presidential elections.
Palestinians said it was almost certain that Arafat would win an election with a comfortable majority, but may not score the 89% of the 1996 election. This time there will be other candidates challenging him, a Palestinian political analyst predicted.
Abu Sharif urged the Americans to join forces with Europe to help prepare for democratic Palestinian elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council and the presidency, and to send American observers to make sure the elections will be fair and democratic. But for elections to be held, Israel must withdraw its forces and enable Palestinians to move, he said.
Arafat said yesterday he had approved elections, but did not set a specific date, although he decided on Monday night that legislative and general elections should be held sometime in January and municipal elections in March. Previously, Arafat had said municipal elections should come first, but some of his advisers such as Gaza Strip Preventative Security Service chief Mohammad Dahlan and political analysts argued that holding municipal elections before serious reforms and elections would only play into the hands of extremists such as Hamas.
Abu Sharif said there were several important elements in Bush's speech that the Palestinians welcome."Bush stressed without a doubt that the Israeli occupation of the 1967 areas [West Bank and Gaza Strip] must end, and an independent democratic state must be established...next to Israel," he said. "Bush also stressed that settlements must be frozen...that Israel must withdraw to the pre-intifada positions, and that the Palestinians must elect a new leadership," he added, saying the Palestinians welcomed these statements.
Another PA source said Palestinians felt insulted by Bush's condition for acceptance of a provisional state.
"He demanded the Palestinians get rid of Arafat for nothing concrete in return not even an international peace conference," the PA source said. "What are the Americans going to do when Arafat gets reelected?" the source asked.
I don't blame the President Bush for trying, but it's not like a new "Afganistan" leadership will really change anything.
I don't blame the President Reagan for trying, but it's not like a new "Russian" leadership will really change anything.
I don't blame the President Truman for trying, but it's not like a new "Japanese" leadership will really change anything.
I don't blame the President Roosevelt for trying, but it's not like a new "German" leadership will really change anything.
I don't blame the President Roosevelt for trying, but it's not like a new "Italian" leadership will really change anything.
Changing leadership doesn't do anything does it.
Is it possible that the Jerusalem Post is "nudging" Bush in a desired direction? This was their top-of-page story. (BTW . . . all those "changes" you enumerated . . . no big deal . . . )
;)
If you catch any reference in the next day or two WRT Bush and the G-8 and Arafat's "ouster" plese give me a hollar.
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