WASHINGTON, April 12: US President George Bush continues to believe that Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon is a “man of peace” and at the same time he feels that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has yet to win his trust.

Reiteration of the US president’s faith in Sharon, as enunciated at his daily press briefing by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on Thursday, has come in the midst of one of the most vicious Israeli military attacks on Palestinian refugee camps and towns, and despite Israel’s refusal to heed US calls to halt its bloody offensive.

The spokesman explained his president’s belief by asserting that Sharon was “the democratically elected prime minister of the free state of Israel. And the state of Israel is committed to peace, and they elected a leader who would help them achieve security on the path to peace”.

Fleischer also chose to point out that Sharon supported both the Tenet accords and the Mitchell plan, but failed to mention that the Palestinian Authority and Arafat have also endorsed both the proposals.

Asked if Bush would consider Arafat also to be a “man of peace”, Fleischer said: “As the President himself has said in the Rose Garden (April 3), Yasser Arafat has yet to earn his trust.”