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RAMALLAH, June 5: CIA chief George Tenet told Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hours before Wednesday’s deadly suicide blast he would face the wrath of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on his own in case of any more such attacks, a senior Palestinian official said.
Tenet said in talks with Arafat on Tuesday that “if there are any more suicide bombings then this time the United States will not intervene and Sharon will have a free hand”, the official said.
The official said Tenet also told Arafat the number of branches in his revamped security forces was not a priority issue for Washington just as long as the persistent attacks stopped.
Officials said after Tuesday’s three-hour talks in Ramallah that Tenet had proposed whittling the dozen security branches down to three, while the Palestinians suggested six.
The United States repeatedly urged Israel to end its massive reoccupation of West Bank autonomous cities in April and May when Israeli forces stormed in after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 29 Israelis in a hotel in Netanya.
‘TACIT APPROVAL: Israel is waiting for “tacit approval” from Washington to dump Yasser Arafat as a player in the Middle East peace process, an Israeli official said after the suicide bombing.
The senior offical said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would take the message to US President George Bush when he meets him on Monday.
He claimed the US administration was “wavering” in its conviction that there is no alternative to Arafat.
“I can tell you we believe that as long as Arafat is around there will be no progress. This is what he wants, he thinks he is doing okay — there’s terror and then still everybody comes to him, foreign leaders come to him, he doesn’t seem to have any incentive to change,” said the official.
The official said Arafat had failed to dismantle Palestinian extremist groups which have carried out five deadly bomb attacks in the past month.
“We think Arafat is gratified with this because he is literally getting away with murder,” he said.
“Sharon will tell (Bush) clearly that Arafat must be out of the picture or there will be no change. The Americans are wavering, there are many in the US administration who already agree,” he said.
The official said the administration was split between the hawkish Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney, and the more conciliatory State Department of Colin Powell.
“Israel is waiting for some tacit approval, some green light. (Arafat) needs to be out of the picture, some people might call it reform, it’s about him not being here,” he said, without giving further details.
He said Arab states would ultimately welcome Arafat’s ouster.
“They’re afraid of Arafat because he’s inciting the Arab masses,” he said.
“In the short term there’ll be a lot of shouting but then there will be a lot of rapid progress.”
Sharon has tried in the most recent of his five previous visits to Washington to convince Bush to sideline Arafat as a peace partner, but the US leader has so far snubbed his efforts.
US doubts Arafat: The White House denounced Wednesday’s bus bombing in Israel as a “brutal terror attack” and cast doubts on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s role in securing Middle East peace.
While demanding that the Palestinian Authority take steps to thwart future attacks, Fleischer indicated Bush had strong doubts about Chairman Yasser Arafat’s role in halting such violence and forging a lasting peace.
“In the president’s eyes, Chairman Arafat has never played the role of someone who can be trusted or who is effective,” he said, adding that Bush would work with the Palestinian Authority “whatever people constitute it”.
“Chairman Arafat is the leader of the Palestinian Authority, but there are many other people who play constructive roles,” said Fleischer, who emphasized that Bush “has been disappointed in Chairman Arafat’s leadership.”
Asked whether the United States has been stepping up contacts with Palestinian officials other than Arafat, a senior administration official told reporters: “I think that’s true.”—AFP
