Faced with Arab demands that he pressure Israel for territorial concessions, President George Bush is focussing his Middle East policy on another front – fighting terror, a goal he underscored after a deadly bombing at Hebrew University in Jerusalem that claimed the lives of five American citizens.
King Abdullah of Jordan is the latest Arab leader to call on Bush to get Israel out of the West Bank and Gaza so the land may be used for a Palestinian state.
Five American citizens died in the bombing and four others were wounded, Israeli police said.
Bush is committed to Palestinian statehood in three years, and he supports UN resolutions that would have Israel give up territory the Arabs lost in the 1967 Mideast war in exchange for peace within secure borders.
But responding angrily on Wednesday to the bombing in Jerusalem, Bush renewed his pledge to fight terror. He demanded also that the Palestinian Authority get rid of ”officials who haven’t been able to deliver.”
With Arab and European leaders insisting he step up his timetable for a Palestinian state and pressure Israel to quit the occupied territories, Bush focused on the need for ”a security force that exists to fight terror.”
At the end of a meeting with his Cabinet, the president condemned the attack ”in the strongest possible terms” and said those who were involved in the bombing were ”clearly killers who hate the thought of peace.”
Bush said his message to them was ”they won’t stop us from rallying the world to fight this kind of terror, nor will they stop us from having a vision of peace.”
Israel’s battle with terror was likely the subject of a fast-paced series of meetings Foreign Minister Shimon Peres had scheduled on Thursday with officials at the Pentagon, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
In Gaza, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, linked the bombing at Hebrew University to Israel’s air strike in Gaza City last week that killed Hamas military commander Salah Shehadeh and 14 civilians, including nine children.
At the State Department, a representative rejected any suggestion the bombing was a payback for the Israeli assassination.
”There is no justification,” representative Philip Reeker said. ”It robbed innocent lives.”
On whether Israel should strike back, White House representative Ari Fleischer and Reeker said Israel had a right to defend itself. The two spokesmen also suggested Israel be mindful of the consequences to peace prospects.
But there was no call at the White House or the State Department for Israel to hold its fire.
Like other deadly attacks in the past, the bombing coincided with a review of US peacemaking prospects – this time with King Abdullah, whose country is at peace with Israel.
Reflecting widespread Arab and European sentiment, the king seeks to persuade the administration in talks with Bush, Rice and Armitage to step up its timetable for Palestinian statehood.
European diplomats have been trying to revive the idea of holding an international peace conference to address the statehood question, a gathering the Bush administration had initially suggested holding this summer.
Bush said before there could be a peace conference, which he said he supports, security to protect Israel and the Palestinians must be installed and democracy, including a constitution, brought to the Palestinian people.
”Reform of these institutions are an incredible part of achieving what, I believe, His Majesty wants, which is two states living side by side in peace,” he said.
Bush has called for the ouster of Yasser Arafat, accusing him of involvement with corruption and terror. His remarks on Wednesday proposed a broader sweep.
”What’s worth pursuing,” the president said, ”is a detailed plan toward achieving these objectives: a security force that exists to fight terror, not keep certain officials who haven’t been able to deliver in the war against terror in office, a security force that will cooperate with people who care about achieving peace.”
Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to meet with a delegation of Palestinians in Washington next week and is conferring with Palestinian officials over who would be part of it. – Sapa-AP