Posted on 03/30/2002 10:19:29 AM PST by scratchgolfer
Bush: U.S. Supports Israeli Defense
CRAWFORD, Texas- President Bush said Saturday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "can do a lot more" to prevent attacks against Israelis and that the United States supports Israel's right to defend itself.
"I believe he can do a lot more to prevent attack," Bush said in his first comments since Israeli troops laid siege Friday to Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank on Friday after 30 Israelis were killed in a week.
"I am deeply concerned about the loss of innocent life. ... I fully understand Israel's need to defend herself," the president said at his Texas ranch where he had kept a silence while monitoring Friday's developments.
Bush also said U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni will remain in the region to continue his efforts at arranging a cease-fire.
Just as Bush began speaking, there was fresh violence in Israeli. An explosion went off Saturday evening in a cafe in Tel Aviv's crowded entertainment district, and paramedics said there were dozens of casualties.
Bush stepped up his Mideast diplomacy Saturday with calls to five world leaders. But the president announced no new action by his administration to end the bloodshed, such as sending Vice President Dick Cheney back to the region.
He urged all Middle East leaders to strongly condemn the attacks against Israelis, but singled out Arafat.
"He has got to speak up," Bush said. "He need needs to stand up and condemn ... these attacks."
Asked if he thought the administration could do more to help end the cycle of violence, Bush said U.S. officials are spending "a great deal of time" on the matter and he is committed to ending terrorism in the Middle East and around the world.
In addition to harsh words for Arafat, Bush insisted Israel must work to reduce the violence. He urged Israel to "make sure there is a path to peace as she secures her homeland."
"There's got to be a peaceful solution," Bush said.
Bush made calls from the ranch to King Abdullah II of Jordan, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who has offered a leading peace initiative.
The president did not speak with Arafat or Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the conversations covered the Middle East and the U.S. commitment to moving the peace process forward. Johndroe knew of no plan to send Vice President Dick Cheney back to the region.
The spokesman did not indicate what Bush heard from the leaders.
Spanish officials said Bush and Aznar, who holds the rotating chairmanship of the European Union, agreed on the need to find a common EU-U.S. position regarding a solution to the crisis.
The president also had a conference call with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser.
In the West Bank town of Ramallah, where Arafat's headquarters were under siege, Israeli soldiers rounded up hundreds of Palestinians in a sweep for militants. Arafat was effectively penned in a few rooms of his office building with water cut off and food dwindling, surrounded by Israeli tanks and troops.
At the United Nations, the United States joined other U.N. Security Council members Saturday in adopting a resolution that calls on Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian cities.
In his weekly radio address, Bush appeared to refer indirectly to the conflict in the Middle East. For Christians and Jews in this season of religious observance, he said, "Faith brings confidence that failure is never final, and suffering is temporary, and the pains of the earth will be overcome.
"We can be confident, too, that evil may be present, and it may be strong, but it will not prevail."
The president, his wife, Laura, and his parents, former President Bush and Barbara Bush, planned to attend Easter sunrise services Sunday at a Crawford church.
Honoring Easter and Passover, Bush told Christians and Jews their faiths offer bastions of hope in a world scarred by evil.
"We can be confident that evil may be present, and it may be strong, but it will not prevail," Bush said on the radio.
That's exactly what we're doing when we urge Israel to pursue peace. What antagonistic action has Israel pre-emptively made that makes you think they need to be told to pursue it? The implication is that they haven't been. Since when? They've held off on retaliation to the point that it's infuriating even to a non-Israeli.
I think in George Bush's case, he really is feeling broader pressures from the rest of the world, a mostly contemptible lot unfortunately.
This conflict will not be resolved by some silly negotiations and all sides coming together. If that were so, it would have been solved 50 years ago. The Palestinians know damn well that if they wanted their (so-called) land back it would happen instantly if they sincerely waged a campaign for peace. Anyone that doubts this is a total stinking fool and ought to know it.
And another thing - the Arabs cannot mount a credible military presence against any number of western countries - even one.
This is just my opinion, but I really believe the Israelis should drive the Palestinians out of a sufficiently size no-man's buffer zone that must include East Jerusalem. The issue is survival and Israeli Jews do not owe it to anyone to let themselves be slaughtered like lambs let alone have their holy sites desecrated. If the Arabs still want to play brinksmanship, Israel will still have some choice targets - such as a few places in Saudi Arabia.
Yeah, Israel takes out Arafat and we bomb Jerusalem. Give me a break. Sharon has the ball in his court, he has had it there for 4 months.
The US cannot bear to offend the UN or the EU. Evidently they now hold sway over us. I know that there is a faction on this forum that thinks Bush always has a coy backroom reason to do things that makes everything he does in public okay. I do not buy into that theory.
Thanks for your comments. On this one we'll have to agree to disagree. Take care.
You mean the women and kids who blow people up right?
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