U.S. President George W. Bush backed Israel's “right to self defense” on Tuesday, after Israel continue to press ahead with its offensive in West Bank cities. "Everyone has the right to defend themselves, but all parties must work towards peace," Bush told reporters during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
The Bush administration turned to the Arab world Tuesday for support in its campaign to oust Yasser Arafat and push the Palestinian Authority toward democratic reform and statehood within three years. The White House said Israel's future could depend on it.
U.S. allies expressed skepticism about Bush's call on Palestinians to oust leader Arafat. Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien, while embracing Bush's push for democratic elections and eventually a Palestinian state, declined to back the president's call for Arafat's ouster. "I don't have a specific point of view on that," Chretien said. "I don't want to comment on that."
Bush planned to promote his ideas for Palestinian statehood with European, Russian and Canadian leaders attending the economic summit in Canada.
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush harshened the tone of his speech against Arafat after last week's suicide attacks. "The president did become more explicit, more pronounced in his statements, and that's because he watched the reality of events on the ground," he told reporters.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity with AP, said Bush had received intelligence last week showing that the Palestinian leader has continued to help finance Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. diplomats opened talks with Arab governments to promote Bush's program, and Secretary of State Colin Powell mounted a high-profile campaign. In an interview with the U.S.-financed Middle East Radio Network, Powell said ending “terror” was the most important goal of the Bush administration.
In the radio interview, Powell said the Bush administration will remain in touch with Palestinian leaders and were in contact with several before Bush spoke Monday at the White House. He did not identify who the Palestinians were.
On the ground, Israel kept Palestinians in seven West Bank cities under curfew and threatened to expand the operation to the Gaza Strip. As of Wednesday morning, Palestinians in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Qalqilya, Tulkarm, Nablus and Jenin were under Israeli reoccupation, curfew and searches.
Asked how long the army would stay in the cities they entered after suicide bombers killed 26 people in Israel last week, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said: "As long as it takes us to fulfill our basic duty to our children."
Speaking on Israel's Channel One television, Ben-Eliezer said that on Tuesday alone Israeli forces had seized explosives belts, homemade rockets and "several terrorists and murderers of the first order" in sweeps through the West Bank. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
