Condoleeza Rice: current PA leadership cannot bring about independent state

Condoleezza Rice on 'Fox News Sunday': Chairman ArafaT does have responsibilities that he has not been meeting.

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that the U.S. administration had not seen but would examine documents Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is reportedly taking with him to Washington to prove Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's connections to the financing of terror attacks. She added that the administration would consider the evidence.

Sharon is carrying with him documents seized in raids on the West Bank that Israel says proves the Palestinian Authority presides over a terrorist network that finances and plans attacks. The New York Times cited an unidentified U.S. official as saying the United States believed Israel had to accept Arafat as a negotiating partner "no matter how reprehensible he may be."

But Rice, appearing on the "Fox News Sunday" program in advance of Sharon's meeting with Bush on Tuesday, said the United States was making no such assertion.

"We are not going to try to choose the leadership for the Palestinian people. Chairman Arafat is there... but he does have responsibilities that he has not been meeting and we are going to press him," she said.

"We are going to call on Arab allies, the Europeans and others to press him and we are going to be very clear that the Palestinian leadership that is there now, the Authority, is not the kind of leadership that can lead to the kind of Palestinian state that we need," Rice said. "It has got to reform."

She said Bush planned to assure Sharon that the United States would pressure the Palestinian Authority to take significant steps to stay at the peace table.

"The Palestinian Authority has certain responsibilities. We are going to take a new approach, including bringing, we hope, greater accountability and pressure from the Arab states on the Palestinian Authority to do what it needs to do," she said.

Besides what she hailed as a "new more active role" taken by Saudi Arabia after Bush's recent meeting with Crown Prince Abdullah, Rice said increased involvement by Egypt and Jordan "gives us a very powerful Arab, Israeli neighbors presence in the peace negotiations that has not been here before."

Rice said the European Union and others would also step up their demands on Arafat but would not say whether such pressure would include threats to cut off financial assistance.

She also said setting a specific timetable for tackling the most difficult of the issues between the two sides, including contentious Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas, would not be productive at this time.

"We are not going to get ahead of ourselves," Rice said. "We are going to look at where we are. We are going to talk to the prime minister about what he has in mind and then we'll see what the next steps are."

Specifically, Rice said the Palestinian leadership must be "democratic, transparent and non-corrupt... what we ask of every government in the world. And we are going to start demanding [that] of the Palestinian leadership."

Minister Dani Naveh (Likud) on Sunday presented reporters with details of evidence linking Arafat to terror attacks. Israel says that the "Arafat Dossier" - a report prepared by a committee headed by Naveh - contains proof that Arafat and other PA officials were directly involved in financing terror attacks.

The report was based mainly on Israeli intelligence, documents confiscated during "Operation Defensive Shield" and information gathered during questioning of prisoners carried out by the Shin Bet security service.

Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti and Palestinian Intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi are mentioned in the report as being directly involved in terror attacks against Israel. According to Naveh, the report found that "the supreme commander of the Al Aqsa Brigades is Arafat."

The file also reveals attempts by Arafat's bureau to recruit Israeli Arabs for terror attacks inside Israel, and asserts that money given to the PA by donor states was used to finance terror attacks.

Asked about corruption amongst high-ranking Palestinian officials, Naveh related an incident when agricultural supplies, transferred from Israel to the PA as part of a humanitarian aide package, were eventually sold back to Israel and the profits were pocketed by the officials.

Naveh said that the report also contained information describing incidents of physical abuse against the Christian population in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, which were perpetrated by Palestinians with the full support of PA officials.

The minister stressed that the report's findings were not political, but rather "professional" findings gathered by IDF intelligence, the Shin Bet and other security services. He described the documents as an important tool to be presented by Sharon before Congress and U.S. officials during the prime minister's visit to Washington.

The report, Naveh insisted, graphically illustrates the fact that Arafat could not be considered a peace partner.

The report also makes mention of the involvement of several Arab states in terror. These include Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

According to the report, Saudi Arabia has systematically transferred money to families of suicide bombers. The report also contains letters of gratitude written to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for his country's financial aide to the PA.

She said Bush planned to assure Sharon that the United States would pressure the Palestinian Authority to take significant steps to stay at the peace table.

This is exactly what Arafat wants. This peace table diversion is an old trick of tyrants of which Arafat is one.
IMO, both Rice and Powell are protecting Arafat. Rice and Powell are both part of the problem and need to be retired. The solution at the moment would be to eliminate Arafat.

I wouldn't be sure. Bush has been more pro-Israeli than any other U.S. president before him. You can't turn such massive foreign policy assumptions around on a dime. Half a year ago, all the liberal politicians and media were afraid that Cowboy Bush would let the Israelis loose and destroy clinton's precious "peace process." Now, more and more of these same people are urging Bush to let Sharon do what he needs to do, and very few sensible people or politicians with their fingers to the wind are willing to say that the peace process must be saved at all costs. In particular, liberal American Jews see things very differently than they did a year ago, when clinton was still their hero.

In a perfect world, you could just go ahead and do the right thing right away. In the real world, you have to line up all your ducks, first, or you may pay too big a price. I'm still not sure how this will play out, but I don't see any signs that Bush is either a) a coward; or b) stupid.

Is Sharon bringing documents on the mother and 2 children the IDF killed today?

Depends...
Were these "innocent victims" strapped with explosives and have an accident?
Or did they "merely" allow Muslim Mass Murderers into their neighborhood to hide and avoid the authorities?

How can anyone insist that Sharon meet with Arafat when President Bush refuses to meet with Arafat?

These are from unidentified/unnamed sources and is being reported by the most liberal newspaper in America, the NYTimes. Give me a break.

The New York Times cited an unidentified U.S. official as saying the United States believed Israel had to accept Arafat as a negotiating partner "no matter how reprehensible he may be."

Besides, President Bush is a third party broker in this conflict. There is no reason for Bush to meet with Arafat. Sharon is a friend and ally of the US, but is also one of the two sides, directly involved in the ME conflict. It is only logical that the leadership from both sides, eventually meet, face to face. Whether that includes Arafat or not, is what will be decided by all the involved, interested and concerned parties to the matter.

Is Sharon bringing documents on the mother and 2 children the IDF killed today?

Israel has already apologized for its military troops inadvertantly killing these specific innocent civilians. Israel is involved in a military conflict and these deaths are part of whats called, collateral damage. Its sad, but its part of conflict and battle.

I don't know what she was saying, but she looked fantastic today.

Is Ms. Rice married? I hope she is not beyond childbearing years. It would be a real shame for her to not be able to pass on her incredible genes.

No, she has never married. Isn't it obvious that the Palestinian authority cannot run a state for the benefit of it's people? They would be so much better off, if they would just settle down and let Israel teach them modern ways to economic prosperity. Aarafat is just a petty dictator who has abused the people he claims to control.

Ummm...Ms. Rice, ummm...does that mean that you are going to ask the same thing of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon, none of which are democracies? Corruption is rampant in all of those dictatorial countries.

And could you please explain how a greater role for Israel's dictatorial neighbors brings this conflict closer to a resolution that does not punish Israel for being a democracy?

As much as I'd like to see it that way I will suggest that in this case Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is the dead man walking.........

I'd almost bet money that if his evidence is that strong and he's willing to share it then the threat from the PA, US-PLO supporters and or the defense industry will try and see to it Prime Minister Ariel Sharon isn't able to deliver his eye opening data in print.......

IMHO it is already well known to the blindest of humans with third grade education that YesSir AirFat and his ilk are the problem. Get rid of his @ss, give the Pali's their chunk of land (not little islands spread throughout Israel) and fill Isreal with Israeli's only.

A 20 mile no-mans land "buffer" and posted kill zone surrounding the state of Isreal is then established and the matter is clear from that point on. If a Pali etc want's to make a pilgrimage to their holy sites then get a visa, visit, and go back home.

Just my ideas and opinions of course.

Stay Safe !

We are going to call on Arab allies...and we are going to be very clear that the Palestinian leadership that is there now, the Authority, is not the kind of leadership that can lead to the kind of Palestinian state that we need," Rice said.

As Bush said in his state of emergency address "...We're gonna turn them against each other..."

"Is Sharon bringing documents on the mother and 2 children the IDF killed today? "

Arafat killed them, buy funding bomb factories in their neighborhood. You all so had a role in killing them, by parroting the propaganda that gives them hope to continue.

Good job!

This is exactly what Arafat wants. This peace table diversion is an old trick of tyrants of which Arafat is one.

True. But what is there to stop Isreal and the US from using the peace table as a diversion as well?

"…give the Pali's their chunk of land (not little islands spread throughout Israel) and fill Isreal with Israeli's only. A 20 mile no-mans land "buffer" and posted kill zone surrounding the state of Isreal is then established…"

A 20 mile buffer zone would be nice, but… Maybe you'd like to take a look at some of these maps.

Ariel Sharon is reportedly taking with him to Washington to prove Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's connections to the financing of terror attacks. She added that the administration would consider the evidence.

What BS
Is there any doubt ?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.