Bush Accuses Arafat Organization
Fri Jan 25, 1:14 PM ET
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said Friday he was "very disappointed" in Yasser Arafat, saying his organization was aiding the cause of terrorists by trying to buy weapons from Iran.
Bush made his comments after meeting with his national security advisers to consider punitive actions aginst Arafat's Palestinian Authority, which had been caught trying to buy weapons from Iran. The actions could include severing ties with the organization.
"I am disappointed in Yasser Arafat," Bush said on a trip to Maine for a speech on homeland security.
"Ordering up weapons that were intercepted on a boat headed for that part of the world is not part of fighting terror," the president said. "That's enhancing terror."
Secretary of State Colin Powell and other State Department officials were counseling against severing ties. According to a well-placed U.S. official, they favored demanding that Arafat guarantee tough action against terrorism and then the administration would resume its peacemaking efforts.
Arrayed against this view, and pushing for a cutoff, were Vice President Dick Cheney's office and Pentagon staffers, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, meanwhile, that "the United States is appalled at the involvement of senior Palestinian officials" in the smuggling operation. And, he said, "we're outraged by the role played by Iran and the Hezbollah in that operation."
According to Israeli security officials, the weapons were supplied by Iran and loaded on the ship there with the help of Hezbollah, a guerrilla group that is fighting a low-level cross-border war with Israel from southern Lebanon.
Bush and Fleischer did not indicate if a decision had been taken at the White House.
Powell, at the State Department said "the U.S. has a whole range of options."
"We continue to give a strong message to Chairman Arafat" to combat terrorism, he said.
In the private White House session, Bush and his national security team discussed various options, which also include closing Palestinian Authority offices in Washington, sending U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni to suspend his peacemaking mission and placing Arafat's personal security force on the State Department's list of terrorist groups, according to several government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Zinni was expected to resume his attempt to rebuild a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians in a third trip to the region last week. But the mission was sidetracked by the violence, and there is no word on when he might go back &mdash despite reports that Arafat asked Powell to send him back.
Cutting ties with Arafat could greatly complicate Bush's fragile war coalition by angering Muslims and driving a wedge between the United States and its Arab allies. It also would make it tougher for U.S. diplomats, dealing with only one party in the dispute, to ease Middle East tensions.
For those reasons, severing ties was the least likely option to be accepted by Bush, said a senior administration official involved in the discussions. The official said Bush's team agrees that action needs to be taken against Arafat, but the advisers are split over how serious the steps should be.
It was unclear whether Bush would make a decision Friday. One source said the action may be postponed, giving Arafat one more chance to avoid punishment.
The advisers' meeting comes after Bush sent proof to three key Arab leaders that the Palestinian Authority was engaged in a weapons smuggling plot and asked them to put pressure on Arafat to make arrests, senior administration officials said.
Israeli commandos early this month intercepted a ship carrying the 50 tons of rockets, mortars, explosives and other arms in the Red Sea and informed the Bush administration.
Most of the evidence Bush included in his letters last week to Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan was gathered by U.S. intelligence, diplomatic sources said Thursday.
That underscored the Bush administration's conviction that Arafat's Palestinian Authority was involved. Arafat himself has denied any role and the Bush administration has hesitated to contradict him directly.
But Israeli security officials say it was impossible for senior Palestinian Authority members to be involved in the plot first hatched in June without Arafat's personal awareness.
They also said the weapons, if delivered to Palestinian militants, could have been used against Israel's Ben-Gurion airport and especially to pierce the reinforced surface of buses that carry tourists and Israeli civilians.
Assistant Secretary of State William Burns called in ambassadors from two dozen Arab countries for a briefing Friday at the State Department. It is part of an administration campaign to rally the Arab world against terrorism and to compel Arafat to curb Palestinian attacks on Israel.
The Palestinian Authority, under U.S. urging, has detained several suspects. But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher repeated on Thursday that Arafat had neither provided a satisfactory explanation of the smuggling nor arrested the key figures.
Powell publicly has demanded an explanation from Arafat about the smuggling, though Powell has said he has seen no evidence against the Palestinian leader.
Bush plans to meet Feb. 7 with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who will be making his fourth visit to the White House to see Bush since March. Arafat has never been invite
