Israel Rejects Bush Plea, Cancels Arafat Meeting

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected a request from President Bush on Friday to restart cease-fire negotiations with the Palestinians, an Israeli Cabinet minister said.

Sharon told the president that he had canceled a meeting planned for Sunday between Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat because it would damage Israeli interests, said Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin.

Bush telephoned Sharon to thank Israel for its support following Tuesday’s terrorist attacks and to ask that the meeting go ahead, Israel Radio and a White House spokesman said. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell also phoned Sharon and Peres to press the point.

The Bush administration is eager for an end to nearly a year of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed as it turns its attention to building a coalition to fight terrorism. The United States hopes to draw on moderate Arab states as well as Israel, Europe, Russia and others for the coalition.

But fighting continues to rage in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the wake of the attacks on the U.S., and Israeli and Palestinian leaders still flay each other for allegedly being unwilling to stop the violence and resume peace talks.

Sharon told U.S. officials Wednesday that Arafat is “Israel’s Osama bin Laden,” a reference to the Saudi-born militant who is a suspect in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

“Peres meeting with Arafat now would be like Powell meeting with Bin Laden now,” Rivlin said. “The U.S. president is Israel’s friend, but sometimes he has to understand that sometimes friends agree and sometimes they disagree.”

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, reached by phone at his home in the West Bank town of Jericho, said he thought that Sharon’s willingness to defy Bush and cancel the meeting was ominous for the Palestinians.

“If Sharon goes ahead and cancels it, that means he has other plans and we know those other plans--they involve tanks, shelling and assassinations,” Erekat said, referring to Israel’s campaign of killing suspected militants in Palestinian-controlled territories. “I really believe that the man feels that after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, nobody is criticizing his actions, nobody is watching, so he can go ahead and do anything.”

Israel thrust deep into Palestinian-controlled territory in the West Bank shortly after suspected Islamic militants hijacked U.S. airplanes and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Israeli tanks entered the towns of Jenin and Jericho, and 15 Palestinian have died in fighting since Tuesday. Three Israelis also have been killed in Palestinian attacks.

Media here have reported that in the wake of the attacks on the United States, Israel issued a warning to Arafat to immediately stop all attacks on Israelis or face much more severe military reactions.

In Israel, the army, Cabinet and most media analysts have urged that Peres postpone his meeting with Arafat. In an effort to appease critics, Peres laid down a new condition Friday morning for the talks, insisting that Arafat first order an end to attacks on Israelis.

“Arafat must issue immediate instructions, before the meeting, to stop terror acts, and he must take the necessary steps to calm the situation,” Peres spokesman Yoram Dori told Associated Press. Both sides have attempted to impose numerous conditions for the meeting during negotiations that have dragged on for weeks.