October 7, 2003	Tuesday	Sha’aban 10, 1424

WASHINGTON, Oct 6: The United States on Monday said Israel “must not feel constrained” in defending itself from militants and at the same time accused Syria of being on the wrong side in the “war against terrorism”.

In his first public remarks about Sunday’s Israeli airstrike on an alleged Palestinian militant training camp deep inside Syria, US President George Bush said he had personally reached out to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon by telephone on Sunday after the “needless murder” a day earlier of 19 people by a suicide bombing in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

Syria brought a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on Sunday to condemn the raid. The council met for about three hours but adjourned without taking a vote.

“I made it very clear to the prime minister, like I have consistently done, that Israel’s got a right to defend herself, that Israel must not feel constrained in terms of defending the homeland,” Mr Bush said.

“However, I said that it’s very important that any action Israel take should avoid escalation and creating higher tensions,” added Mr Bush, who renewed his call for Palestinian leaders to combat militants who target Israel.

“In order for there to be a Palestinian state, the Palestinian Authority must fight terror and must use whatever means is necessary to fight terror,” he said. “The Palestinian Authority must defeat the terrorists.”

He was speaking after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat installed Ahmed Qorei as prime minister on Sunday as head of a nine-member cabinet in a decree that also declared a state of emergency.

Official sources said on Monday the decree would allow security forces to arrest members of armed factions at will, paving the way for a crackdown on militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad — a long-standing demand of Israel and the United States.

Though President Bush did not refer by name to the “roadmap” to Middle East peace, White House spokesman Scott McClellan earlier said Washington stood behind that blueprint for bringing peace to the volatile region.

“We remain committed to the roadmap,” Mr McClellan told reporters. “It is the way forward to the two states vision of Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security.”

The plan, drawn up by the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations, calls for confidence-building measures by Israel and the Palestinians with an eye on creating a Palestinian state by 2005.

UN RESOLUTION: Mr McClellan also sidestepped a question on whether the United States would veto the UN resolution authored by Syria condemning the Israeli airstrike.

“There continue to be discussions at the UN,” he said. “I think we’ve made it very clear of the need for the international community to send a message on for cracking down on terrorism. And we will continue to do that.”

At the United Nations, the US ambassador said his country would not support the resolution because it made no mention of Saturday’s suicide attack in Israel.

“The US believes that Syria is on the wrong side of the war on terrorism,” said Ambassador John Negroponte, echoing past US demands for Damascus to stop supporting what Washington says are terror groups.

Israel carried out its air attack on Sunday morning on what it said was a Palestinian militant training base northwest of Damascus used by the Islamic Jihad and Hamas groups.

It was the deepest military strike by Israel inside Syria since 1973.

Islamic Jihad denied it has bases in Syria, while Syria said only civilian areas were hit in the raid.—AFP/Reuters