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Posted on 06/25/2002 10:36:30 PM PDT by Cinnamon Girl
U.S. President George W. Bush ran into ambivalence and signs of European concern over his call for the ouster of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, almost as soon as he arrived for a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, a conference widely expected to be dominated by the controversial American peace initiative for the Middle East.
Guarded by soldiers, tanks, and laser-guided anti-aircraft missiles, the world's most powerful leaders gathered Tuesday at the western Canadian Rocky Mountain resort of Kananaskis, under the shadow of snow-covered peaks and away from diverse protest groups who say rich country policies hurt the poor.
The summit is expected to be dominated by reaction to Bush's Monday speech, in which he gave a blueprint for a Palestinian state and called for new leaders to replace Arafat.
Britain, one of Bush's staunchest backers, earlier welcomed the new sign of U.S. involvement in the Middle East, but also reflected European concern over excluding Arafat.
We welcome the speech and the engagement it demonstrates from the U.S. administration," Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman told reporters. But he added, "We have always said it is for the Palestinian people to choose their own leader."
Bush is to hold a one-on-one meeting with Blair on Wednesday.
Bush set tough conditions for his proposed path to provisional Palestinian statehood within about 18 months and a final settlement in three years. He called for replacing Arafat with a new leadership "not compromised by terror," as well as democratic reforms, a constitution and a new security arrangement that Israel can trust.
"The president talked about perhaps it would be better to replace Mr. Arafat. I don't have a specific point of view on that," Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien told reporters as he met Bush. "It might be a good thing," Chretien said.
Chretien and Bush met one-on-one during the opening evening of the annual G8 summit, held this year in the Canadian Rockies resort of Kananaskis.
In his meeting with Chretien, Bush also backed Israel's right to self-defense, after Israel pressed ahead with an offensive in West Bank cities. "Everyone has the right to defend themselves, but all parties must work towards peace," Bush said.
U.S. officials also said a Middle East peace conference that the United States had wanted to hold this summer was essentially put on hold pending a more "useful" environment. "I think it's on hold -- the timing is now more up in the air," the official said.
A conference had earlier been agreed to by the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations. It was endorsed by a G8 foreign ministers' meeting earlier this month. Solana said it was "now more than ever necessary."
The U.S. official said the timing of a conference was not linked to the U.S. aim of ousting Arafat.
U.S. officials have not ruled out contacts with Arafat, but any such contacts would not be substantive. Washington would work with other Palestinians and other Arab states to help build new Palestinian institutions, an official said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States would respect the electoral choice of the Palestinian people once they held elections. Asked what would happen if they re-elected Arafat, Powell said: "We will deal with the circumstances as we find them."
However, a U.S. official suggested on Monday a re-election of Arafat would undermine the goal of a Palestinian state. "If you cannot get new leadership that is uncompromised by terror, it's going to be very hard to get to the kind of Palestinian state that the president is talking about and the United States cannot move there until those circumstances obtain," the official said.
The G8 leaders will also discuss economies, terrorism and the problems of debt-strapped Africa -- an issue that the protest groups say the rich countries have been neglecting for years.
The G8 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- will issue an "action plan" on transport security after the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings, focusing on steps to ensure cargo on ships and planes is secure and build on U.S. border agreements with Canada and Mexico.
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I think this will "dominate" the conference - that is, European leaders trying to get Americans to subsidize the loans by European banks.
As shown in Argentina's default, Bush wasn't to eager to bail out the Euro-loans there either.
Talk about wishy washy sitting on the fence and covering all bases.
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