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Palestine is, according to the Bush II administration, "not serious" about fighting the battle against terrorism and bringing peace to the Middle East and Israel somehow IS serious about it?
From this NY Times article: quote:
Saudi Charges Bush With Failure to Broker Mideast Peace
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Saud al- Faisal, said tonight that his government was "angrily frustrated" that the Bush administration has failed to begin a promised new peace initiative in the Middle East.
He also said that President Bush could not become an "honest broker" in the Middle East peace process until he agrees to meet the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. The White House said today that the president would not meet Mr. Arafat at the United Nations this weekend.
Mr. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, spoke in unusually blunt language today in describing Mr. Bush's decision not to meet the Palestinian leader. Mr. Bush does not believe, she said, that Mr. Arafat is serious about the American-led war on terrorism.
"There are responsibilities that come with being the representative of the Palestinian people," Ms. Rice told reporters today, "and that means to make certain that you do everything you can to lower the level of violence, everything that you can to root out terrorists. These are responsibilities that we have asked Chairman Arafat to take and to take seriously. We still don't think there has been enough in that regard."
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Prince Faisal, in an interview here before he goes to New York for United Nations session, said Mr. Bush's failure to commit personal prestige to forging a final peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians "makes a sane man go mad."
"The thing that is so sad is that what is needed to make peace is very little," he said, but added that Mr. Bush must establish himself as an "honest broker" and "he cannot be an honest broker and only meet with one side." Mr. Bush has never met with Mr. Arafat.
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The Palestinian planning minister, Nabil Shaath, on the Voice of Palestine radio before a meeting today with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, praised the European peace initiative, saying, "It talks about an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, putting an end to the Israeli occupation" as well as "a just solution for the problem of refugees in return for recognizing Israel's borders and its security needs."
But senior administration officials played down the significance of any new plan. "The Europeans have all kinds of ideas but they're not going to go anywhere," said one administration official.
More at the NYTimes site. |
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