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April 5, 2002/Nisan 23, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 29
Administration backs Israeli self-defense
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - As Israel expands its anti-terror operations in the West Bank, the Bush administration is expressing support for Israel's right to defend itself and keeping the burden on Yasser Arafat to fight terrorism.
Israel backers are encouraged by the public rhetoric, but concerns are mounting that the administration's vision for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis is too narrow.
Several senators have called on the White House to become more engaged, even to the point of sending Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region. Some Middle East analysts also are seeking a more elaborate American game plan.
Over the past year the Bush administration has vacillated between supporting Israeli retaliatory attacks as self-defense and calling for Israeli restraint, but in recent days it has returned to the former.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer acknowledged that change April 1, saying that deadly Palestinian suicide bombings in the midst of a U.S.-led cease-fire effort have hurt the chances for peace and undermined the Palestinian Authority president's ability to lead.
"I think Mr. Arafat could have done more three weeks ago and can do more today," Bush said March 30 from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, hours after a suicide bomber attacked a cafˇ in Tel Aviv.
"I know I have been disappointed in his unwillingness to go 100 percent toward fighting terror," Bush said of Arafat. "That includes using security forces to help prevent suicide bombers from crossing certain lands. And that also means speaking out clearly, in his native tongue."
As usual, the State Department has been harsher on Israel.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said April 1 that the administration was "gravely concerned" about the situation in Ramallah, where Israel has confined Arafat to his office.
"We deplore the killing and wounding of innocent Palestinians, and we urge Israel to use maximum restraint to avoid harm to civilians and permit access for humanitarian services," Reeker said.
Bush's comments since the Passover massacre - when a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 22 Israelis at a seder in Netanya - strike some as reminiscent of the U.S. attitude after the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, when Bush spoke out strongly against terrorism and in favor of self-defense and domestic security.
But the White House also warned the Israeli government that it must "make sure that there is a path to peace" when it calculates its military moves.
"The president also believes at the end of the day, Israel has got to be cognizant of the fact that a path to peace still has to be the focus of everybody's efforts in the Middle East, and that as Israel conducts whatever Israel is going to do as a sovereign nation, the ultimate goal must still be creating circumstances for peace to take hold in the region," Fleischer said April 1.
He added that the United States had not approved the Israeli invasion March 29, and had not given Israel a green light for its military action.
Israel backers say the overall American response to Israel's Operation Protective Wall has been encouraging.
"The administration is fed up with Arafat," an official with one Jewish organization said.
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