Steve Quayle News Alerts

June 24, 2002

WASHINGTON, June 24 — In a long-awaited policy speech on the Mideast, U.S. President George Bush called on Palestinians to replace Yasser Arafat and the rest of the current Palestinian leadership. He vowed extensive help from the United States and the international community for the establishment of a Palestinian state and its institutions if the people chose to reform the government, end terrorism and elect accountable leaders.

IN THE SPEECH, postponed from last week because of the wave of suicide attacks in Israel, President Bush said he expected Israel would “respond” as the Palestinians reached for these goals but clearly placed the onus on the Palestinians to change first.

“Today, the elected Palestinian legislature has no authority, and power is concentrated in the hands of a few,” Bush said.

“True reform will require entirely new political and economic institutions,” he said, vowing that the United States, the World Bank and the international community would help Palestinians organize and monitor elections and set up an accountable judiciary and an independent legislature.

As NBC’s David Gregory noted, the president made clear that Arafat had time and again disappointed him by failing to crush terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians.

The president took no questions from reporters after the speech.

For the last few weeks, the White House was said to be supportive of setting up a provisional Palestinian state, but that idea has been rejected by most of the concerned parties.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said the “time is not ripe” for any kind of Palestinian state, while Palestinian officials are lukewarm for different reasons.

“A state is a state, and you cannot be provisionally pregnant, and you cannot have a provisional state,” Palestinian Cabinet Minister Nabil Shaath said on CNN’s “Late Edition.”

At a briefing Monday morning, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer appeared frustrated when asked about the Bush plan. “Stop bugging us,” Fleischer said.

“U.S. allies have been pressing the United States to take action to halt the violence, which has led to a heightened Israeli presence in the West Bank.

On Monday, Israeli tanks encircled Yasser Arafat’s badly damaged headquarters and barricaded the front gate with debris as the army seized control of Ramallah.

In the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at two cars, killing six Palestinians and injuring five, Palestinians said.

Four of the dead belonged to the militant group Hamas, the movement said.

Hours later, Sharon warned Israeli was “preparing massive activity against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

PROVISIONAL BORDERS
A senior White House official reaffirmed Sunday that Bush would outline a step-by-step proposal for establishment of a Palestinian state contingent on democratic reforms. The plan would create the state within provisional borders late this year or early next year, provided that enough measurable progress has been made in reforming the Palestinian Authority and stemming terrorism.

The thorniest issues — such as final borders, the control of Jerusalem and the return of refugees — would be left to negotiations between Israel and the provisional state.

Bush delayed an announcement last week after two suicide bombings in Jerusalem killed 26 Israelis and the Israeli army began seizing Palestinian territory in the West Bank.

Ahead of the official announcement, influential lawmakers also challenged the administration’s proposal.

DICEY PROPOSITION
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., called the idea of an interim state “a dicey proposition right now. I don’t know how you can create a Palestinian state at the moment with all of the violence that’s going on, all of the terrorist attacks,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”

Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said, “The offer of President Bush will be welcomed if this will be under the feeling that all of the terror activities is somehow calmed, or at least someone (does) something in order to bring it lower than it is right now.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said he would embrace an interim-state proposal. “I think the whole region is awaiting the speech of the president. As a matter of fact, things are being (delayed) because there is this expectation for the announcement by the president,” he said.

Several of those interviewed Sunday expressed growing skepticism about Arafat’s ability to lead the Palestinians.

June 23 — Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., says the Bush administration made a “catastrophic mistake” in its Middle East diplomacy.

“I think he’s at a point where he has lost control,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman said. “It’s time for a change.”

Shaath said Arafat is the elected leader of the Palestinians and will face elections again in January.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., accused the administration of a “catastrophic” mismanagement of the Mideast crisis by engaging only fitfully there. “There is no continuity, there is no fundamental plan,” he said.

“They sent mixed signals to every side, if any signals at all,” Kerry said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And in the end, I think they have contributed significantly to their own dilemma and to the dilemma of the Middle East today as a result of that.”

http://www.msnbc.com/news/771278.asp