Steve Quayle News Alerts

June 25, 2002
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Bush's long-awaited address on the Middle East Monday was meant to clarify U.S. policy and point the way to new peace negotiations. The speech demanded sweeping changes from the Palestinian Authority in return for his offer of recognition for a "provisional" Palestinian state. But the address put so many conditions on his offer that some on the Palestinian side fear it may only intensify the violence it was meant to contain. Reformers said Bush's call for the quick removal from office of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat might hurt, not help, efforts to end the current crisis.

"I'm afraid this is going to come down to just another phase in the process of escalation," said Khalil Shikaki, a prominent reformer and Palestinian pollster from Ramallah. "This will make matters worse."

REQUIREMENTS OF PLAN

Palestinian Authority must:

Elect new political leadership. Bush called for multiparty local elections by the end of the year. National elections would follow.
Create new political, economic and judicial institutions based on democratic principles. Bush said the United States, European Union and international financial organizations are ready to help with these reforms.
Wage a "sustained fight" against terrorism and reach new security arrangements with Israel.

Israel must:

Withdraw its military forces from Palestinian-controlled territory and adhere to positions held before the latest crisis began on Sept. 28, 2000.
End construction of settlements on Palestinian territory.
Restore freedom of movement to Palestinian workers, legislators and humanitarian workers and allow the Palestinian economy to develop.
Release frozen Palestinian funds if they can be delivered into "honest, accountable hands."

Potential rewards:

Palestinians would see the creation of a provisional Palestinian state. Bush, however, suggested no borders for such a state or any timetable for its creation.
Israel would see an end to the state of crisis created by Palestinian suicide-bomb attacks.

Both sides would begin negotiations toward a final settlement on issues such as the status of Jerusalem, final borders for a Palestinian state and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

In his speech, Bush, without mentioning Arafat by name, said "peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership ... not compromised by terror."

Palestinian reformers have said they would be more than willing to get rid of Arafat — who the U.S. administration believes has not done enough to curtail Palestinian-backed terrorism — if Bush offered a detailed peace proposal.

Bush called for new Palestinian leadership, an end to terrorism and the development of new legal and economic institutions. But it was unclear how the speech Bush gave would improve conditions on the ground, much less lead to Arafat's ouster. "If he really wishes to engender change of leadership, he needed to make the upside for the Palestinians clearer," said Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel.

Analysts said there was little chance that the Palestinian Authority would be able to meet Bush's demands when Israeli forces currently occupy Palestinian territory.
It was unclear whether the administration would host an international peace conference proposed by Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Bush promised "a major" Palestinian aid program if reforms were enacted. But he gave no details.

Bush delayed the speech from last week because of two more suicide bombings against Israelis. Israel retaliated by re-occupying Palestinian areas and vowed to stay until terrorism is rooted out.

U.S. officials said Bush's comments were repeatedly rewritten and were almost not delivered at all. And what emerged was a hybrid reflecting difficult regional realities, divisions within Bush's own administration and domestic U.S. politics, analysts say.

Bush did call for some difficult measures to be taken by Israel — such as an end to settlement construction in Palestinian territory.

But the speech also echoed some key Israeli positions. Bush said Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza began in 1967. But he did not say a Palestinian state should be based on those borders — a key Arab demand. Bush made no reference to a Saudi plan, embraced in March by the 22-member Arab League, that offered Israel normal relations in return for Israeli withdrawal to the '67 lines.

Bush also did not satisfy Arab hopes for a clear timeline for recognition of a Palestinian state. He said his goal was a state in three years but made progress contingent on Palestinian reform.

Supporters of the Israeli government applauded Bush's speech.

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, called it "a very constructive blueprint that could lead to real peace in the Middle East. It was not a reward for terrorism but a reward for the end of terrorism."

The speech appeared to mark a defeat for Powell and his State Department Middle East team, who had been lobbying for quicker recognition of an interim state and final borders based on 1967 lines.

Bush was flanked as he spoke in the Rose Garden by both Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, unusual for a president delivering a diplomatic address.

Rumsfeld and his top civilian appointees have favored giving Sharon a free hand to crack down on Palestinian militants and have argued that early recognition of a Palestinian state would be a reward to terrorists. It appeared that the Pentagon prevailed.

Many on Capitol Hill, where support for Israel is traditionally strong, endorsed Bush's approach.

"In calling for new Palestinian leadership and democratic reforms, the president announced the end of the Arafat era," said Tom Lantos, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee.

Contributing: Tom Squitieri
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/06/25/mideast-usat.htm