US President Bush defended the slow pace of Israel's withdrawal from Palestinian cities and said Thursday he understood why Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had laid siege to Yasser Arafat's headquarters.
Saving his most pointed remarks for the Palestinian leader, Bush said Arafat's condemnation of terrorism must be followed by concrete action. "We will hold him to account," the president said.
Bush summoned his foreign policy team to the Oval Office for a report from Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had returned nine hours earlier from a Middle East mission without securing a cease-fire. Aides said there was no decision on what to do next, though CIA Director George Tenet is expected to return to the region soon.
In staking out a newly conciliatory posture toward Israel, Bush is reflecting the desires of conservative Republicans and some Democrats who want the Jewish state to be given unfettered authority to crack down on terror.
Bush has had a difficult time since the crisis began trying to evenly measure his rhetoric without seeming to favor one side over the other or signaling an unexpected shift in policy. In this case, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the president did not intend to signal to Israelis that he was backing off his demand for an immediate withdrawal.
As the president grappled with the decades-old dispute, a senior State Department official conceded in testimony to Congress that the Middle East crisis has cost America support in the Arab world. Bush needs Arab leaders to go along with his efforts to oust Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and the Middle East crisis has put those plans on hold.
"We are clearly, at least temporarily, losing some support," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told the House Appropriations' foreign operations subcommittee. "We've got a problem."
Lawmakers offered a wide range of suggestions to end the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, including a bill by Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to impose sanctions on Arafat. Reps. Lois Capps, D-Calif., and Jim Leach, R-Iowa, circulated a letter asking Bush to consider sending former Presidents Bush, Carter and Clinton to the region to continue peace efforts.
Despite complications with the Arab world and the refusal of Arafat and Sharon to fully comply with his demands, Bush declared Powell's mission a success.
"The situation prior to the secretary's arrival was at a boiling point, and thanks to his hard work, he has laid out, not only a vision of hope, which is important, but has convinced others that these terrorist acts will forever and constantly undermine the capacity for peace," Bush said.
Powell sat nearby. Just outside camera range were National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Vice President Dick Cheney, who is now expected to join Bush at his Texas ranch next week for talks with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.
The president seemed to justify Sharon's reluctance to meet U.S. demands, even while maintaining pressure on Arafat.
Two weeks after telling Israel to withdraw its troops and 12 days after saying the action should come "without delay," Bush said he understood why Israeli soldiers were still in Ramallah and Bethlehem. And the president said he accepted Sharon's assurances that Israel will soon pull out of Jenin, the refugee camp that a U.N. envoy has called "horrifying beyond belief" after Israeli assaults.
"History will show that they've responded," Bush said of the Israelis. "And as the prime minister said, told me, he gave me a timetable and he's met the timetable."
The president did not say whether the timetable included actions taken in Jenin, nor did White House officials say whether Bush had approved of the assaults.
Bush said Israel has laid siege to Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah because five suspects in last year's assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi are believed to be in a basement inside Arafat's compound.
"I can understand why the prime minister wants them brought to justice," Bush said. "They should be brought to justice if they killed a man in cold blood."
A White House official said U.S. diplomats were trying to mediate for a resolution. That official, siding with Israel on one aspect, said the suspects were taking refuge in the headquarters rather than being held in custody as Palestinians claim.
Bush also expressed hope that the standoff at the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem can be resolved.
"I do believe Ariel Sharon is a man of peace," Bush said, not offering a similar assessment of Arafat. He also never repeated his demand for an immediate withdrawal.
(China Daily April 19, 2002)
