Bush Paints a Rosy Picture of Sharon as Occupation Troops Kill a Palestinian Policeman & Arrest 27 Other Palestinians in Ramallah

10/06/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: A Palestinian Policeman Killed in Ramallah, Two Israeli Occupation Soldiers Wounded & At Least 20 Palestinians Arrested||Chances for a Proposed Mideast Summit Now Look Remote||Recent Palestinian Reforms Appear to Have Succeeded in Stealing Some of the Thunder Out of Sharon's Anti-PA Campaign|| STORY: Upholding Israel's so-called right to defend itself, President Bush met Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday as Israeli tanks encircled Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's West Bank compound killing a Palestinian Policeman. Two Israeli occupation soldiers were wounded and at least 20 Palestinians suspected of plotting attacks against Israel were arrested during the predawn incursion. (Read photo caption)

Israel's incursion into the city of Ramallah was intended to drive home a message that Arafat has failed to stop Resistance attacks and its timing signaled Sharon's confidence that Bush would not quarrel with the move.

A ROSY PICTURE OF SHARON

"Israel has right to defend herself, and at the same time that Israel does so, the prime minister is willing to discuss the conditions necessary to achieve what we want, which is a secure region and a hopeful region," Bush told reporters.

Bush said he and Sharon discussed "reforms necessary that would enable a Palestinian Authority to emerge" that would give Israel and the Palestinians confidence to move ahead in peacemaking to end more than 20 months of bloodshed.

But the president added that Arafat's administration still had a long way to go toward reform before a Middle East peace summit could convene.

Bush met Sharon as part of consultations with Middle East leaders and as Washington planned its next moves aimed at ending Israeli-Palestinian violence and laying the groundwork for a Palestinian state.

The White House did not raise any specific objection to Israel's West Bank operation except to remind Sharon his moves could impact long-term efforts to secure a peace.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said his understanding was that the Israeli move was "limited in duration" and intended to go after "terrorists."

"Given that understanding the United States has said before that Israel has a right to defend itself but the United States will be closely monitoring what Israel is doing and the United States again reminds Israel about the importance of remembering the repercussions of any action Israel takes today impacting the broader goals of achieving peace tomorrow," he said.

Sharon was in the U.S. capital amid reports Bush was planning to set a timetable for a final peace settlement.

Bush held talks with Mubarak over the weekend at Camp David but rebuffed the Egyptian leader's call to support a declaration of Palestinian statehood early next year and declined to commit to any peacemaking calendar.

Sharon's refusal to budge on the security issue has drawn praise in the U.S. Congress, whose leaders he meets on Tuesday before flying to London for talks on Wednesday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.


CURFEW IMPOSED

About two dozen tanks and armored personnel carriers, backed by helicopter and machine-gun fire, thrust into Ramallah before dawn, surrounding Arafat's compound and imposing a curfew on the city, residents said.

The raid signaled Israel's determination to press on with efforts to isolate Arafat and his Palestinian Authority despite international criticism of the near daily raids into Palestinian-ruled territory.

"Since we don't enjoy the cooperation of the Palestinian Authority in counter terrorism, we have no choice but to work alone," said Col. Ilan Paz, an Israeli officer in Ramallah.

Officials from the Authority say Israeli raids have crippled its security forces' ability to operate.

MORE INCURSIONS

Elsewhere in the West Bank, occupation soldiers arrested at least nine Resistance suspects in raids of the village of Beit Awa east of Hebron, Azoun east of Kalkilya, Zaita north of Tulkarm and in the El Aroub refugee camp near Hebron and Halhoul.

PALESTINIAN REFORMS APPARENTLY ANNOUNCED AT THE RIGHT TIME

Sharon came to Washington on Sunday riding high after Bush snubbed an appeal by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to jump-start the creation of a Palestinian state and again slammed Arafat for failing to do enough to combat terror.

But Palestinian moves toward reforms demanded by the United States and Israel -- which Arafat made on the eve of Sharon's sixth visit to the Oval office -- could steal some of the Israeli leader's thunder.

Israel responded coolly to Arafat's decision to reshuffle his cabinet, the appointment of a general to head a streamlined security force and the arrest of a leader of Islamic Jihad, a group behind a bombing that killed 17 Israelis on a bus last week.

Fleischer said of the weekend Palestinian cabinet reshuffle that Bush was waiting to see more action and that "only time will tell" whether it was a positive step.

Jibril Rajoub, Palestinian West Bank security chief, said the first meeting of the revamped Cabinet, scheduled for Monday, was canceled because of the Israeli troop presence in the city.

PHOTO CAPTION

President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon listen to a reporter's question in the Oval Office after their meeting, Monday, June 10, 2002, in Washington. Sharon was expected to counsel a gradual approach in which substantive talks do not begin until the Palestinians halt attacks on Israelis, where the pace of negotiations is linked to continued calm and the most intractable disputes between the two sides are put on the back burner. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
- Jun 10 1:22 PM ET