Posted on 06/27/2002 9:20:23 AM PDT by vance
Bush threatens to halt PA funds
By NEWS AGENCIES
KANANASKIS, Alberta - US President George W. Bush threatened yesterday to cut off money to the Palestinians if they fail to embrace reform, stepping up pressure for the removal of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
"I've got confidence in the Palestinians, when they understand fully what we're saying, that they'll make the right decisions," said Bush. But he warned: "I can assure you, we won't be putting money into a society which is not transparent and corrupt, and I suspect other countries won't either." The US donates approximately $80 million a year in humanitarian assistance to the PA via the US Agency for International Development. Congress also appropriated $15m. in supplemental disaster relief aid for the Palestinians this spring.
According to a government report released last month, the PA has used tens of millions of dollars it received from donors such as the European Union to finance terrorism.
Bush's threat came as key US allies meeting in the Canadian Rockies resort of Kananaskis expressed little enthusiasm for Bush's call for replacing Arafat with new leaders "not compromised by terror." The so-called Bush doctrine on terrorism leaves open the possibility of US military action against states that harbor or support terrorists. Bush was asked yesterday if the doctrine and possible military force apply to Arafat. "I'm never ruling out military. All options are available. But in this case ... the tool I'm using is diplomatic pressure to work with our friends and allies to convince all parties they have a responsibility to bear," Bush said.
Like Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was frustrated with Arafat, who has called elections for January and announced plans to run again.
"We've got to have leadership we can negotiate with that is serious about peace and resists and totally rejects terrorism," Blair said.
But he added: "It's for the Palestinians to elect the people that they choose to elect.... So this is not a question of us going in and saying to the Palestinians, 'Look, we're going to run your election.'" Bush and Blair met one-on-one during the opening day of the annual summit of the Group of Eight nations. The meeting is expected to be dominated by reaction to Bush's blueprint for a Palestinian state and his call for Arafat's removal.
Blair said the two allies will make clear to the Palestinians "the consequences of electing people who are not serious negotiating partners." With Bush at his side before a meeting of leaders from the world's major industrialized nations, Blair said it was not a question of telling the Palestinians how to run their elections.
"But it is a question of us saying if we want this peace process to work there are certain clear preconditions," Blair said.
Blair and other European leaders appeared to differ with Bush over Bush's view that the Palestinian people must replace Arafat as their leader before the US will support an independent Palestinian state.
But Blair also echoed some of Bush's criticisms of Arafat. He said that while not interfering in Palestinian elections, the Europeans and the United States had to point out the "consequences of electing people who are not serious negotiating partners." Asked if he were alluding to Arafat, Blair replied, "I think I've had 30 different meetings with Chairman Arafat over the past few years.... We've got a situation where we have not been able to make progress and there has been an attitude toward terrorists that is inconsistent with the notion of Israeli security." A senior US administration official said Bush believes Arafat must be removed from power after receiving an Israeli intelligence report that he authorized a $20,000 payment to the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, The New York Times reported yesterday.
Citing senior administration officials, the Times report says Bush decided to call for Arafat's removal after intelligence information showed that the Palestinian leader is continuing to finance the group that claimed responsibility for last week's suicide attack at the French Hill bus stop in Jerusalem. "That was a key," it quotes a senior administration official saying. "It sealed it." Seven Israelis were killed in the attack, among them five-year old Gal Eisenmann and her grandmother, Noa Alon.
The US official said this was not the sole factor behind Bush's position on Arafat, pointing to earlier evidence such as the Iranian shipment of arms aboard the Karine A ship seized by Israel. The official called the $20,000 payment "just one more drop in the pond of information" that helped convince Bush to finally give up on Arafat.
Palestinian officials yesterday rejected the claim of the payment, with one senior official saying the report was a forgery circulated to create problems between the PA and the US administration. "If there is such a report, let the Americans show it to us and discuss it with us... it should be easy to verify if Arafat actually signed the transfer of money to the brigade," the senior official said.
Also according to the Times report, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had long been urging Bush to take a tougher position on Arafat, while Secretary of State Colin Powell had defended Arafat as the Palestinians' designated leader.
The report also quotes State Department spokesman Richard Boucher saying that Palestinian security forces are currently being restructured with the help of CIA Director George Tenet, but he declined to specify the details.
Meanwhile, the US claimed yesterday it is gaining ground with Arab leaders in its campaign to reform the PA.
Powell sought support in telephone calls to Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher, while other American diplomats pursued other Arab leaders.
"Fundamentally, there has been a positive measure of support," Boucher said. "They have expressed support for reform in the Palestinian Authority. They've expressed support for more responsibility in the Palestinian Authority." Bush has set tough conditions for his proposed path to provisional Palestinian statehood within 18 months and a final settlement in three years.
In addition to seeking new leadership, Bush has called for sweeping democratic reforms, a constitution, and a new security arrangement that Israel can trust.
Asked who would judge whether the Palestinians have fulfilled US demands, Bush said: "The free world. The people who are going to be asked to put up money." Bush said he would use "diplomatic pressure" to get the Palestinians to reject terrorism, but added: "I'm never ruling out military. All options are available." "Sometimes we'll use military force, and sometimes we won't," Bush said. "And in the case of the Middle East, obviously, the road map I've laid out is one that calls upon all our friends and allies to join and bind together against terror." He added: "We all have responsibilities, and in this case the tool I'm using is diplomatic pressure, and to work with our friends and allies to convince all parties they have a responsibility to bear."
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