Posted on 05/20/2003 9:14:21 AM PDT by anotherview
May. 20, 2003
US supports Palestinian premier despite terror wave
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington
A rash of deadly terror attacks on Israel has not shaken the Bush administration's confidence in Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas as a leader who will strive to get the violence under control.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday that he had "seen nothing to put in doubt his commitment," although he urged Abbas to take immediate and decisive action to eradicate the terrorism infrastructure.
"We recognize that this is a very difficult task," Boucher said. And yet, he said, "it's imperative that the Palestinians move on security." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on Tuesday morning echoed the president's faith in the latest round of peace talks.
"What frequently happens in the Middle East is just on the most hopeful moments, the terrorists strike as fast and as hard as they can," Fleischer said on ABC television's "Good Morning America."
"That's why this president is determined to still find a way, even through the violence, to bring the parties together," he said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Sunday, striving to sustain President George W. Bush's vision of two states, one Jewish the other Palestinian, living side by side in peace.
The suicide bombers have slowed work on Bush's blueprint for a settlement, which had been received skeptically by Israel and the Palestinian leadership in the first place.
They caused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to cancel talks Tuesday at the White House with the president and thereby deprived Bush of a chance to try to sweet-talk the hard-line ex-general into starting down a road Sharon finds paved with peril for Israel.
And they have raised new concerns as to whether Abbas, the new Palestinian prime minister, and interior minister, Mohammed Dahlan, can make a difference in giving Israel the calm it wants to make risky concessions.
Abbas emerged as prime minister, with strong US backing, after Bush dismissed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as ineffective and entwined in terrorism against Israel.
The Bush administration is counting on Abbas to lead the Palestinians into democracy while also making a strong effort to end terror attacks on Israel.
Bush on Monday said he was confident the peace process could be moved forward. "But it is clear that the process is not going to be smooth so long as terrorists kill," he said.
The president appealed to all governments to "step up and fight off terror, to cut off the money, and to find those people and bring them to justice."
The State Department balanced its call for Palestinian action with an appeal to Israel to "think of how it can act in ways that support Prime Minister Abbas and his new government and show respect for the life and dignity of the Palestinian people."
The United States wants Israel to curb tough restrictions on Palestinian movement and to freeze settlement activity in disputed lands. A former US ambassador to Israel and to Egypt, Edward S. Walker, said the terrorists would probably undermine the peace plan.
"The only way to deal with these guys is for the Palestinian and Israeli security authorities to get together and say we have had enough," Walker said in an interview.
The bloodletting was no surprise. Many past US mediation efforts since the Arabs fought Israel to a standoff in the 1973 Yom Kippur war have inspired violence.
Bush called the terrorists "killers who can't stand peace." He said he would not be deterred in pursuing his "vision of two states existing side by side in peace." Last week, Powell went to the Middle East to try that vision out on Sharon and on Abbas, known also as Abu Mazen.
Sharon offered some humanitarian gestures, now reversed in response to the new terror, but did not explicitly accept the road map produced jointly with the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.
Sharon said he would discuss his reservations with Bush, taking the president up on an offer last spring to "welcome contributions from Israel and the Palestinians on this document." Abbas accepted the road map, but he said he had reservations, too.
Then he held inconclusive talks Saturday night with Sharon and they agreed to meet again, keeping open the one meaningful channel for negotiations.
Sharon in the meantime had said rolling up Jewish settlements was not on the horizon. And Abbas, in their talks, said Israel would have to implement the road map as a condition for the Palestinian leader strengthening security.May. 20, 2003 US supports Palestinian premier despite terror wave By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Washington Advertisement
A rash of deadly terror attacks on Israel has not shaken the Bush administration's confidence in Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas as a leader who will strive to get the violence under control.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday that he had "seen nothing to put in doubt his commitment," although he urged Abbas to take immediate and decisive action to eradicate the terrorism infrastructure.
"We recognize that this is a very difficult task," Boucher said. And yet, he said, "it's imperative that the Palestinians move on security." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on Tuesday morning echoed the president's faith in the latest round of peace talks.
"What frequently happens in the Middle East is just on the most hopeful moments, the terrorists strike as fast and as hard as they can," Fleischer said on ABC television's "Good Morning America."
"That's why this president is determined to still find a way, even through the violence, to bring the parties together," he said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Sunday, striving to sustain President George W. Bush's vision of two states, one Jewish the other Palestinian, living side by side in peace.
The suicide bombers have slowed work on Bush's blueprint for a settlement, which had been received skeptically by Israel and the Palestinian leadership in the first place.
They caused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to cancel talks Tuesday at the White House with the president and thereby deprived Bush of a chance to try to sweet-talk the hard-line ex-general into starting down a road Sharon finds paved with peril for Israel.
And they have raised new concerns as to whether Abbas, the new Palestinian prime minister, and interior minister, Mohammed Dahlan, can make a difference in giving Israel the calm it wants to make risky concessions.
Abbas emerged as prime minister, with strong US backing, after Bush dismissed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as ineffective and entwined in terrorism against Israel.
The Bush administration is counting on Abbas to lead the Palestinians into democracy while also making a strong effort to end terror attacks on Israel.
Bush on Monday said he was confident the peace process could be moved forward. "But it is clear that the process is not going to be smooth so long as terrorists kill," he said.
The president appealed to all governments to "step up and fight off terror, to cut off the money, and to find those people and bring them to justice."
The State Department balanced its call for Palestinian action with an appeal to Israel to "think of how it can act in ways that support Prime Minister Abbas and his new government and show respect for the life and dignity of the Palestinian people."
The United States wants Israel to curb tough restrictions on Palestinian movement and to freeze settlement activity in disputed lands. A former US ambassador to Israel and to Egypt, Edward S. Walker, said the terrorists would probably undermine the peace plan.
"The only way to deal with these guys is for the Palestinian and Israeli security authorities to get together and say we have had enough," Walker said in an interview.
The bloodletting was no surprise. Many past US mediation efforts since the Arabs fought Israel to a standoff in the 1973 Yom Kippur war have inspired violence.
Bush called the terrorists "killers who can't stand peace." He said he would not be deterred in pursuing his "vision of two states existing side by side in peace." Last week, Powell went to the Middle East to try that vision out on Sharon and on Abbas, known also as Abu Mazen.
Sharon offered some humanitarian gestures, now reversed in response to the new terror, but did not explicitly accept the road map produced jointly with the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.
Sharon said he would discuss his reservations with Bush, taking the president up on an offer last spring to "welcome contributions from Israel and the Palestinians on this document." Abbas accepted the road map, but he said he had reservations, too.
Then he held inconclusive talks Saturday night with Sharon and they agreed to meet again, keeping open the one meaningful channel for negotiations.
Sharon in the meantime had said rolling up Jewish settlements was not on the horizon. And Abbas, in their talks, said Israel would have to implement the road map as a condition for the Palestinian leader strengthening security.
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
Richard Boucher, Spokesman
Washington, DC; September 27, 2001
...
QUESTION: To what extent does this campaign -- as you constantly review your Middle East policy, what -- how much influence does this campaign against terrorism have in that? What's the input? How does it weigh in here? See what I mean?
MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't.
QUESTION: It's obviously a factor --
MR. BOUCHER: We have talked about this on and off over the last few days. We recognize that there is an influence. Some have said it affects the atmosphere, the Palestinian/Israeli issues affect the atmosphere of cooperation. But, essentially, there are, on some planes, two different things. One is that there are violent people trying to destroy societies, ours, many others in the world. The world recognizes that and we are going to stop those people.
On the other hand, there are issues and violence and political issues that need to be resolved in the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians. But we all recognize that the path to solve those is through negotiation and that we have devoted enormous efforts to getting back to that path of negotiation.
And we have called on the parties to do everything they can, particularly in the present circumstance, to make that possible.
I guess that's about as close as I can come to the kind of sophisticated analysis I'm sure you will want to do on your own. But they are clearly issues that are different, not only in geography but also, to some extent, in their nature.
--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il
Good thing Russia ignore same stupidity on Chechin issue. Otherwise would be like Isreal in perpetual terror hell.
Why do they tell a lie like this. When the war was halted in 1973, Israeli troops had surrounded the Egyptian Army, they had crosses the Suez Canal and had totally pushed the Syrians out of the Golan. In fact there was nothing to stop the Israelis from advancing on Cairo and Damascus if they had chosen to.
However, the other part of the statement is true. Everyone knew the savages would respond to this "peace initiative" by murdering people. The Israelis would have to respond and Arabs will die. It was also known that Abu Mazen has no ability (if we assume he wants to) to stop the terrorists. This was a needless, cynical, political waste of life by Mazen, Sharon, and Bush. Sorry there is no polite way to put it.
That would be superhuman. I'm still hoping the President is doing to Arafat and the Palestinian-Arab anti-Semitic apologists what he did to the UN - giving 'em enough rope....
Palestinians, Arabs - anti-Semitic Muslims openly plotting to kill Jews and destroy Israel are terrorists.
President Bush knows this. Stay tuned...
Ofcourse. Putin was 100% right to ignore the European Council on that issue.
Well, the problem is that by abiding by our "suggestions" Israel is forced in a constant state of war which is quite costly to their economy and thus they need aid. However, I think that if Israel fought it out with palestinians and brought *real* peace (which only comes after a war) then obviously there would be less of a need for aid.. As for Russia, I think Israel has friendly relations with Russia. Friendlier then with France, anyway :)
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