| U.S. official equates intifada and 'terror' |
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By Jonathan Wright
WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. State
Department official said on Friday the Palestinian uprising
against Israeli occupation had turned into "an ongoing process
of calculated terror and escalation".
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield said
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat should stop the escalation by
cracking down on the Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad --
groups with "darker interests."
Speaking at a conference organized by the Center for Policy
Analysis on Palestine, Satterfield also said there was little
the United States could do unless the Israelis and Palestinians
took steps to reduce violence and restore confidence.
He played down expectations that the Bush administration is
working on a Middle East peace initiative, saying that the
parties themselves needed to have a "vision" of peace.
"This (an initiative) remains an issue which we look at. We
will move as appropriate," he added.
Satterfield repeated standard U.S. criticism of Israeli
actions as provocative and inflammatory but his words on the
Palestinians were tougher than is usual from U.S. officials.
"The intifada (Palestinian uprising), whatever its origin,
has become an ongoing process of calculated terror and
escalation," he said.
The intifada broke out in September 2000 after former U.S.
President Bill Clinton failed to mediate a peace agreement
between Israel and the Palestinians at Camp David.
At least 688 Palestinians and 182 Israelis have been killed
in the 13 months of violence, despite sporadic U.S. attempts to
mediate truces and open the way for peace talks.
"VIOLENCE, CHAOS AND DESPAIR"
The United States, Israel's main ally and source of arms,
has concentrated on trying to end the violence, without
demanding that Israel withdraw the West Bank and Gaza or
offering ideas about the shape a peace settlement might take.
Speaking of Arafat's conduct, Satterfield said: "Good
words, excellent rhetoric, nice instructions sent but very
little in terms of confronting those elements whose interests
are not in advancing the cause of the Palestinian people."
"Those elements", he said, want to create "violence, chaos
and despair that advances the darker interests of those like
Hamas and Jihad Islami (Islamic Jihad), who have little
interest in a secular Palestinian leadership, little interest
in seeing a negotiated settlement."
"It is in Chairman Arafat's fundamental interests, not
Israel's, not ours, but his, that he act decisively to confront
these elements," he said.
"In the absence of such concrete steps it is very difficult
to establish the credibility necessary to advance a meaningful
political process," he added.
He said the intifada had changed Arafat's image in Israel
back to that of "a terrorist, a rogue, an enemy."
"That has to be changed, but it can't be changed by nice
words by the United States or the Europeans or anyone else. It
has to change as a result of Arafat's own actions," he added.
"Without the will, the determination and courage, without
vision on the part of the parties themselves ... it would be
difficult for the U.S. to reach in from outside and compel or
force a resolution. Indeed, difficult is the wrong word, it's
simply not possible," he added.
((Jonathan Wright, State Department bureau, +1 202 898 8393,
fax +1 202 659 5254, jonathan.wright@reuters.com))
02 NOV 2001 16:58:04