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3 Tammuz 5762 - June 13, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Bush: Still Waiting for a Peace Partner
by Yated Ne'eman Staff

After meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the White House Monday, President Bush suggested that conditions were not yet ripe for a ministerial Middle East summit "because nobody has confidence in the emerging Palestinian government" even after the "reforms" recently announced by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer later clarified that a conference on the Mideast was still expected this summer though its contours still needed to be worked out. Bush also seemed to some to accept Sharon's view that Palestinian reform needed to precede peace moves but Fleischer said the president believes the two must "go hand in hand."

Mr. Bush, who has yet to meet Mr. Arafat since he took office but had his sixth session with Mr. Sharon on Monday, seemed to agree with the Israeli leader's skepticism about conducting political talks with the Palestinians until there is significant reform of the Palestinian Authority.

Mr. Bush's comments were close to endorsing Mr. Sharon's position and saying the current Palestinian Authority, under Mr. Arafat, was not capable of engaging in political talks. Mr. Bush did not attempt to dispute Mr. Sharon when the latter said: "We must have a partner for negotiations. We don't see yet a partner."

Mr. Arafat is virtually the only element left of the Palestinian Authority. The PA does not wield much power in either the West Bank or Gaza and it is not clear how effectively it could stand up to the terrorists at this point. Israeli leaders have said repeatedly that they do not believe that Arafat is at all capable of building a suitable political structure of control.

White House officials later clarified that the president was not changing his two-month-old policy of seeking simultaneous progress on improving security in Israel and a political solution for the Palestinians.

Both the president and Secretary of State Colin Powell see the conference "as one piece in a multi-piece process," the White House spokesman said.

Prime Minister Sharon told Bush that the conference should focus on stopping the terror and violence against Israelis and on Palestinian reform, senior officials in his delegation said. Arab states want a broader agenda focused on Palestinian statehood.

Bush and other senior US officials -- having now consulted with an array of Middle Eastern leaders -- are still discussing when or where the conference will take place and what will be its focus, Israeli and US officials said.

Sharon, according to Israeli officials, concedes that total Palestinian reform is not a precondition for peace talks to begin, only progress in that direction and an end to terror, violence, incitement plus the availability of a suitable Palestinian negotiating partner.

Bush, Fleischer said, still has to mull over the conflicting views expressed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Sharon. Mubarak has insisted a final peace deal be negotiated along the 1967 armistice lines. Sharon rejects that border as a starting point for talks.

The White House also endorsed Israel's incursions into West Bank territory as a means of self-defense.

Bush outlined a series of reforms he expected from the Palestinians including security steps, transparency when it comes to economic matters, anti-corruption devices, and rule of law enforced by a court system. The list was similar to that outlined by Bush during a meeting with Sharon last month at the White House.

Sharon, in his remarks in the Oval Office, reiterated his view that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is not a partner for peace.

"At the present time we don't see yet a partner. We hope it will be a partner there who will be able to move forward, first to achieve durable peace in the area. And second of course to provide security to the citizens of our countries. And of course one of the most important things is how really to take the steps to make the lives of the Palestinians and other nations in the region better than they are now," Sharon said.

Among the issues raised between Bush and Sharon were Syria's support for terror, Israeli MIAs, the convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, and Azam Azam, an Israeli who is serving time in Egypt on what Israel says are trumped up espionage charges.

After meeting with Bush, Sharon met separately with Vice President Dick Cheney. Sharon had requested the meeting with Bush to try to persuade the administration that the time was not ripe to lay out a detailed timetable for Palestinian statehood.

Sharon was also due to meet with Jewish American organizational leaders. He was also scheduled to hold meetings with senior officials on Capitol Hill. Sharon also met with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

In Israel, two would-be Palestinian suicide bombers, the head of Islamic Jihad in Ramallah, and 30 Palestinians affiliated with Hamas, Tanzim, and Islamic Jihad were arrested by soldiers and border policemen operating inside Ramallah since the IDF entered Ramallah early Sunday morning.

Sunday afternoon security forces also discovered two cars rigged with tens of kilograms of explosives ready to be used in a terrorist attack against Israeli targets. Inside the vehicles were found Israeli identity cards and Palestinian Authority documents.

Israeli security officials said that, since the conclusion of Operation Defensive Shield, terrorists have resumed operations in Ramallah and were planning a number of terrorist attacks. They said their operation came in response to the failure of the PA to crack down on terrorists and destroy the infrastructure.

Meanwhile, one Palestinian was killed and 40 wounded, eight seriously, when bombs being prepared by terrorists exploded in a three-story building in the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip late Sunday night. Many of the wounded were women and children.

Monday afternoon security forces stopped a Palestinian ambulance traveling on the main road between Gaza and Khan Yunis for a routine check and arrested a Palestinian fugitive inside pretending to be a patient.

On Tuesday morning a bomb went off near three 15 year old boys walking in a field in Sde Calev, near Hebron. Two were wounded seriously. They were with a group of 50 students from the Yeshiva High School in Hebron.

 

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