Arab Nations Are Turning Up the Heat on Arafat

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat may be facing the gravest crisis of his leadership, his government may be on the brink of irrelevance, yet Arab leaders are increasingly emphasizing that the Palestinians--not just the Israelis--need to do more to end the violence in their region.

Though the shift in rhetoric has been subtle, with Arab leaders continuing to place the bulk of blame for the mounting bloodshed on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, sources close to the Palestinian leadership say that Egypt, in particular, has been pressuring Arafat to do a better job of controlling militant groups.

As the Israel Defense Forces pummeled Arafat’s security infrastructure last week in retaliation for three suicide bombings that killed more than two dozen civilians, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah II issued a joint statement condemning “acts of violence and retaliatory responses by Israel and the Palestinians.”

“We are concerned and seriously worried about the situation and the pace of deterioration. There is no pace of improvement . . . only deterioration because of Sharon’s policies,” one senior Egyptian official said Saturday. But, he added, “Egypt is against the killing of innocent civilians, whether Palestinians or Israelis . . . and definitely Arafat has been advised the suicide bombers do not help the peace process.”

Jordan’s information minister, Saleh Qallab, said in an interview Friday: “We advised Arafat to control his area, to control his people. But we are not angry with him. We advise him and are still advising him to control his area.”

Since the second intifada, or uprising, broke out in the West Bank and Gaza Strip more than 14 months ago, Arafat and his beleaguered government have looked to Arab leaders for financial, political and moral support. What the Palestinians have received has been mostly rhetorical support and some cash to keep their government from total collapse. The Palestinians have historically been treated as troublesome stepchildren by moderate Arab regimes, many of which must constantly work to keep their own political houses in order.

The Palestinian leadership is again planning to ask for assistance when Arab foreign ministers meet today in Qatar, one day before a scheduled full meeting of the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, which Qatar currently heads. The message is expected to be a warning to the Arab community that collapse of the Palestinian Authority threatens the stability of the entire region.

The Palestinian Authority, and Arafat in particular, is facing its most serious crisis after last week’s suicide bombings by the militant group Hamas. The attacks sparked the fierce Israeli military response, which has targeted Arafat’s personal resources, such as his helicopters, as well as his security apparatus.

As events seemed to hurtle ever closer to the edge of all-out war, Mubarak jumped heartily into the fray, issuing his joint communique and dispatching his foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, to Israel on the first such mission in more than 10 years. Though the visit--which produced no visible results--was presented by Egypt and the United States as a positive step, some in the Palestinian camp viewed it as Egypt caving in to U.S. pressure. After many months of conflict, the only tangible step that had been taken by the Arab world against Israel was a decision to isolate it politically.

“Our political boycott was a sign we did not approve of the Israelis’ policies,” said Tahseen Bashir, a retired Egyptian ambassador. “When things reached a boiling point, we wanted to give the Israeli people and the government the message that Israel is playing with fire.”

There are signs that Egypt is responding to American pressure--either direct or indirect--in the way it has approached the latest flare-up of tensions. In particular, the matter of American financial aid seems to have influenced the Mubarak regime. The U.S. gives Egypt about $2 billion every year in combined military and financial aid.

“In the framework of helping Egypt face the negative effects of the Sept. 11 attack, the U.S. administration began looking into procedures that would quicken handing over the annual economic aid as a sign of the strength of relations between the two countries,” read an article Saturday on the front page of the government-controlled newspaper Al Ahram. “High-ranking White House officials in the States are also looking into long-term plans to help the Egyptian economy through increasing U.S. investment in Egypt.”

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued a brief statement Thursday saying that President Bush had spoken with Mubarak to “praise his courageous leadership” in sending Maher to Israel. The statement concluded by noting that the president had “expressed his determination to assist Egypt in overcoming economic difficulties.”

Even before the terror attacks in the United States, Egypt’s economy was in distress, suffering from insufficient exports, limited foreign investment and capital flight. But today it is in crisis, with the bottom falling out of the tourism industry and other revenue sources dropping off as well. The problem is so acute that last month Mubarak asked Egyptians not to make the pilgrimage this year to Mecca--one of the pillars of the Islamic faith--if they had done so already, because the cost of the trips deprives the state of hard currency.

Still, even with its financial problems serving as a strong incentive to remain on good terms with the Bush administration, anything less than total condemnation of Israel--and support for the Palestinians--appears a bitter political pill for officials here to swallow. While sending out signals that the Palestinians need to act against militant groups, officials are eager to emphasize that that message is a secondary concern. First, they say, Israel must return to the negotiating table and end its occupation of Palestinian land.

“The irony is, the state of Israel, with all its technological and security gadgets, is asking Arafat to protect them from incidents happening inside Israel proper,” said Nabil Osman, the Egyptian government’s chief spokesman. “So the security failure here is an Israeli one. They are unable to protect their own terrain, and they are asking Arafat to do the job for them.”

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