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June 28, 2002/Tamuz 18 5762, Vol. 54, No. 41
Jewish leaders laud Bush speech
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
President Bush's call for a change in Palestinian leadership as a step toward Palestinian statehood is being praised by American Jewish leaders and analysts as "historic."
Some questioned how complete a road map Bush had laid out in his long-awaited Mideast policy speech June 24. But Jewish leaders generally issued a sigh of relief that Bush overwhelmingly had placed the onus on the Palestinians to prove their commitment to peace before any peace process could move forward.
"None of the Jewish community's anxieties were realized," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
In the weeks before the speech, Jewish groups had been concerned that Bush would recommend the quick formation of a Palestinian state in hopes of inducing Palestinians to stop their campaign of violence against Israel.
Such a call, many Jewish groups warned, would be tantamount to rewarding terrorism rather than repudiating it.
On June 24, however, Bush presented a vision toward eventual Palestinian statehood that called for the ouster of the current Palestinian Authority leadership, fundamental reform in Palestinian institutions and a repudiation of the culture of violence and terrorism that the Palestinian Authority has tolerated - or, some would say, cultivated - since Yasser Arafat returned from exile in 1994.
While never mentioning Arafat by name in his speech, Bush made clear that he considers Arafat's removal from power a precondition to progress, a position that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon long has advocated.
"Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership so that a Palestinian state can be born," Bush said. "I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror."
David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, described Bush's call to oust Arafat as "historic."
"For the leader of the world's leading superpower to explicitly call for the Palestinian people to change their leadership is almost unprecedented," Harris said.
The Bush administration "connected the dots," Harris said, about the Palestinian leadership's links to terrorism, after Israel provided extensive documentation of Arafat links to terrorist organizations, weapons-smuggling, payments to terrorists and financial support for the families of suicide bombers.
Throughout his speech, Bush repeatedly described the Palestinian Authority leadership as corrupt, venal and riddled with terrorism.
Bush called on the Palestinians to elect new leaders "not compromised by terror," and said that once violence ended, the United States would support a Palestinian state "whose borders and certain aspects of its sovereignty will be provisional until resolved as part of a final settlement in the Middle East."
"My vision is two states living side by side in peace and security," Bush said. "There is simply no way to achieve that peace until all parties fight terror."
Long into Bush's speech, he made a few demands on Israel: to pull the army back to its positions before the intifada began in September 2000, release tax money due to the Palestinian Authority and to end settlement construction.
However, he made it clear that such steps would be demanded of Israel only after the Palestinians had reformed their government and made clear their willingness to coexist peacefully.
Pressure was placed on Arab states to end incitement against Israel, to denounce terrorist actions and to stop transferring funds and equipment to terrorist organizations targeting Israel.
Bush also pledged additional humanitarian and financial aid to the Palestinians, from both the United States and international monetary groups.
Analysts saw the speech as the long-term vision for the Middle East that had been absent since the Oslo peace process collapsed at the end of 2000. Since Bush took office last year, many believed that his administration was handling situations on the fly, without a clear game plan.
"He has essentially created a post-Oslo framework," said David Makovsky, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "He is making it clear that Palestinian aspirations for statehood are intertwined with reform and security."
A senior administration official said June 24 that two suicide bombings last week in Jerusalem, which killed 26 Israelis, made the president "more resolute" to seek alternative Palestinian leadership.
Yet analysts say questions remain about the plan's implementation.
"What's the follow-through?" asked Ted Mann, former president of the Israel Policy Forum and past chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
"It is a nice set of principals, but it is hard to see what comes next," said Sam Coppersmith, former Arizona state congressman. "The Israelis tried during the 1980s and early 1990s to develop an alternative Palestinian leadership to Arafat and failed. ... It is not clear the Bush administration will have any more luck than the Israelis did."
Bush noted that Secretary of State Colin Powell would "work intensively" with international leaders, but there was no discussion of a new high-level trip to the Middle East or an international summit, which were both anticipated.
Giving a speech that reaffirms the diplomatic solutions to the conflict is important in and of itself, said Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
Stephen Cohen, a national scholar for the Israel Policy Forum, said the three-year time frame that Bush envisioned toward a Palestinian state is a "good goal line."
Among the Jewish organizations expressing support for Bush's message were the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Despite the widespread support for the speech, some Jewish officials and analysts were concerned.
Bush's speech was "dead on arrival" and was "the most foolish speech by an American president on the Middle East," Middle East analyst Daniel Pipes said.
Pipes said he did not believe the notion that Arafat is the cause of all of the Palestinians' problems, and that reforming the Palestinian Authority would lead to peace.
He also called backing for a Palestinian state a "reward for terrorism."
Arizona Corporation Commissioner Marc Spitzer questioned President Bush's timing of continued negotiations.
"It is not justified to force Israel to negotiate under these circumstances," said Spitzer, former Arizona state senator. "Israel is facing continued terrorist attacks that are intolerable and unacceptable."
David Zwiebel, the executive vice president for government and public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, welcomed Bush's speech, but noted that it did not address the "culture of hatred" of Israel that the Palestinian Authority has cultivated in Palestinian society.
Letty Cottin Pogrebin, author and past chairwoman of Americans for Peace Now, said she was concerned by Bush's call to replace Arafat.
"I don't think America can dictate, 'Dump your leader,' " she said.
Pogrebin also said she believed the speech did not place enough pressure on Israel to relieve the hardships of the Palestinian people.
Editor Barry Cohen contributed to this story.
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