Arafat Aide Urges U.S. to Step Up Pressure on Israel

Clearly concerned that Middle East violence has developed a momentum that the parties can no longer control, Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority is urging the Bush administration to increase its pressure on Israel to end a policy of “targeted killings” of Palestinian militants.

The appeal was contained in a letter to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell from Nabil Shaath, a top aide to Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority. Although the text of the communication was not made public, the Palestinians’ Washington representative, Hassan Abdel Rahman, told reporters about its substance.

He said Shaath “called on the U.S. to become more involved to bring this nightmare to an end.” For its part, the Palestinian Authority would do its best to restrain Palestinians from attacking Israelis, Shaath promised, according to Abdel Rahman.

The Bush administration responded by repeating familiar calls for both Israelis and Palestinians to dampen the violence, which has been raging for more than 10 months. There was no hint that Washington might be ready to play a more active role.

“We’re trying to reduce the violence. We’re trying to get the parties to make an effort, to make the maximum effort,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. However, he shrugged off calls for a new U.S. initiative.

“We’re always considering what more we can do. We’re always considering how to move this process forward,” Boucher said. “But we’re always aware of the fact that it takes [action by] the parties” to produce results.

In Crawford, Texas, where President Bush is vacationing, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that “all parties in the Middle East need to take steps immediately to end the violence and restore calm,” news agencies reported.

In his letter, Shaath said the Palestinian Authority was ready to carry out the peace plan recommended by an international commission headed by former Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Maine). The plan calls for an end to violence followed by a series of confidence-building measures on both sides. The Bush administration has adopted the Mitchell report as the core of its Mideast peacemaking efforts.

But Shaath said the U.S. government must move vigorously to persuade Israel to end a policy of killing Palestinian militants suspected of plotting terrorist attacks on Israelis. The State Department has denounced the practice but has not gone beyond rhetoric.

The Palestinian Authority on Monday rejected a demand by Israel to arrest seven men on a wanted list publicized Sunday. The list gives the names and hometowns of the men, along with attacks that Israel says they organized or carried out.

Yasser Abed-Rabbo, the Palestinian information minister, said Israel must first take action against its own militants before the authority could consider demands that it detain any of the seven men.

In June, Israel insisted on 10 days free of all violence before moving to the confidence-building phase of the Mitchell report. There has not been anything close to 10 consecutive days without fighting since then.

Abdel Rahman said Shaath argued that it is unrealistic to expect complete calm. The representative urged the Bush administration to advocate an immediate start to the confidence-building measures on both sides.

But the administration indicated that it is not ready to change policy.

“First, both sides need to really recognize that continuing down this path will only lead to disaster,” McClellan said. “So they need to take immediate steps to end the violence and restore calm.”