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KENNEBUNKPORT, June 15: US President George Bush called on the international community on Sunday to “deal harshly” with Hamas and other Palestinian hardline groups behind attacks in Israel.
In a blunt call to quash such extremists, Mr Bush said in order to bring peace to the region “it is clear that the free world, those who love freedom and peace, must deal harshly with Hamas and the killers” of Israelis.
“For those of us who are interested in moving the process forward, we must combine our efforts to cut off all money, support, for anybody who tries to sabotage the peace process,” he told reporters after church services here.
The US leader renewed his commmitment to the internationally drawn plan for peace that calls for Palestinians to dismantle extremist groups with an eye on getting an independent state living at peace with Israel as early as 2005.
“I’m confident we can achieve peace. It’s going to be a tough road, but I am determined to continue to lend the weight of this government to advance peace,” said Mr Bush, who was spending a long weekend at his family compound in this posh oceanside enclave.
The president sidestepped questions about whether the United States would provide money or arms to help Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas set up a security force that can deal forcefully with extremists.
“We would like for the Palestinian Authority to set up a security force ... that will do the job that Prime Minister Abbas assured me that they’re interested in doing, which is to defeat those terrorists,” he said.
The Bush administration has rejected the notion of sending US troops to the Middle East.
And Mr Bush downplayed the need for himself to engage in telephone diplomacy, saying there were “plenty of contacts” between Washington and both sides.
He noted that his Middle East envoy, John Wolf, had arrived in the region late Saturday to promote the “road-map” to peace, which Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon embraced at a June 4 summit with Bush in Aqaba, Jordan.
“We are in the process of helping them implement a strategy ... as to how the Palestinian Authority wants to reconstitute a security force in order to make sure the terrorists, the haters of peace, those who can’t stand freedom do not have their way in the Middle East,” he said.
Israeli public radio said Mr Wolf had talks with Avi Dichter, head of Israel’s domestic intelligence service Shin Beth, and was to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and military and security service officials on Monday.
Palestinian sources said Mr Wolf, who heads a 12-strong team, would also have talks with Palestinian officials.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell heads to the region next week for a June 22 meeting in Amman of the international “quartet” that drew up the roadmap.
US LAWMAKER: A leading US Republican lawmaker said on Sunday US forces may have to help “root out terrorism” in the Middle East conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, including taking aim at Hamas, the main group behind a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Richard Lugar, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said American forces, either acting alone or as part of an international force, could be used to quell Israeli and Palestinian disputes, “and, maybe even more important, to root out the terrorism that is at the heart of the problem.”
Asked if that meant such troops would go after Hamas, Lugar said, “That may be the conclusion.”
“...It may not be just Hamas but clearly Hamas is right in the gunsights,” the Indiana lawmaker added. “I don’t want to race ahead of a lot of talks that must take place that set the stage for this,” Lugar said.
“... (but) the terrorist aspect really has to be dealt with and that’s why I say don’t underestimate President Bush.”
Israel maintains the presence of foreign forces would block contacts to end a Palestinian uprising for independence, while providing insufficient measures against militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“We are always happy to see American actions against terrorism, but with all due respect, we don’t need them to do our fighting for us,” government spokesman Raanan Gissin said.
Lugar will lead a congressional delegation to Jordan and Iraq next week and said top US officials would be seeking to halt the cycle of violence that is jeopardizing the US-backed roadmap.
In Paris, France said it would be discussing with European Union colleagues the possibility of sending peacekeeping forces.
Last week UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he thought an armed peacekeeping force might calm the situation.—AFP/Reuters
