U.S., Allies Disagree on How to Treat Arafat

The showdown between George W. Bush and Yasser Arafat over the future of the Palestinian Authority faces its first test this week in talks involving the United States and the Arab, European and U.N. players in the Middle East peace process.

So far, it’s shaping up as the United States against everyone else at the table.

Most U.S. allies stand defiantly behind Arafat, even while conceding the need for reforms to open up the Palestinian political system, clean up finances and streamline security forces.

In talks today in New York and Thursday in Washington, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell will have a “very hard sell” generating support for the risky new U.S. goal of replacing the Palestinian Authority president, conceded a Bush administration official who requested anonymity.

“No one wants to attend dinner with Powell where the main course served up is Arafat’s head,” the official said.

The Arab world, represented by the Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi foreign ministers, plans to counter with its own two-year proposal to establish a Palestinian state, according to Arab diplomats.

And in what has become a common refrain among Europeans, the Russian and French foreign ministers jointly endorsed Arafat after talks in Moscow last week. “He was elected,” said French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin. “The Palestinian people should make the decision” about who represents them.

To get around the impasse, U.S. strategy now centers on persuading allies to recognize Arafat’s limitations, while temporarily ignoring the specifics of his fate to focus on broader reforms.

To the surprise of many both inside and outside the region--including officials involved in crafting President Bush’s controversial June 24 speech, in which he called for new leadership in the Palestinian Authority--some pieces have begun to fall into place.

“There are a few signs that we’re beginning to see what we want to see,” said a senior State Department official who requested anonymity.

Palestinian Reforms

Within the Palestinian Authority, a new 100-day plan addresses some of the reforms pushed by the United States: A new finance minister is pledging to deal with corruption. And Palestinians outside the government are beginning to challenge the leadership and its political practices.

“Everybody is talking about reform and change,” said Ziad abu Amr, a political scientist and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from the Gaza Strip.

In Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has responded to pressure from both the Bush administration and his own defense establishment with steps to ease the impact of Israel’s reoccupation of much of the West Bank.

The government established a committee to facilitate the day-to-day existence for a population now largely confined to their homes. Working under Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the committee is authorized to discuss economic and humanitarian issues with Palestinians. In addition, the army reportedly soon intends to pull out of some cities and reduce the number of troops in others.

“To be blunt, instead of being in a coma because of the Bush Middle East speech, and saying that it put all the responsibility on the Palestinians, Israel has decided that we should initiate,” said Noam Katz, a deputy spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.

The Bush strategy is based heavily on forcing each side to take steps in its own interest. And at least in the opening weeks, that is what has begun to happen, if tentatively.

Within Israel, the military’s concern about radicalizing wide swaths of the Palestinian population was the motive for easing some restrictions.

The new chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, said last week that Israel must not turn Palestinian civilians into enemies and should ensure that they can bring bread home to their families.

Yaalon also opposed deporting Arafat, arguing that it would only give the Palestinian leader a new lease on power. Yaalon’s predecessor had urged Sharon to expel Arafat.

And Arafat, after long resisting calls for change, has shaken up his Cabinet, fired two security chiefs and unveiled a plan to restructure key ministries.

In a move that surprised U.S. officials, he even wrote Powell a long letter last week outlining his program and asking for U.S. help with additional steps.

Powell said Friday that his staff was reviewing the letter, although he said he has no plans to personally reply.

Yet U.S. allies, including officials Powell will meet this week, still seriously question whether the Bush administration can create enough momentum to change the realities on the ground--or overcome hostilities so that the peace process has another shot.

So far, steps by both sides are of limited consequence.

Palestinians admit that reforms are flagging. Creation of a Palestinian state is still hobbled by “the lack of a rule of law, the lack of a separation of powers and the lack of legitimacy for the ruling elites,” said Abu Amr, the Palestinian legislator. “I haven’t seen real change--just more of the same in a modified way. What we want are attributes of a real democratic system.”

The government shake-up hasn’t done much either. “Arafat is in an extremely odd position,” Abu Amr said. “He now presides over a Cabinet which includes both proponents for change and those accused of corruption and incompetence. I don’t think he is going to lead a revolution for reform.”

Israel is also moving slowly. Sharon rejected Peres’ request to let 30,000 Palestinian workers return to jobs inside Israel, authorizing a more modest 5,000. And so far the prime minister has not released tens of millions of dollars in taxes Israel collected for the Palestinian Authority but impounded after fighting erupted in September 2000.

“Let’s not be deceived by window dressing,” said Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin. “The immediate, most important thing is fighting terrorism, and there is no lack of motivation to attack us.”

Talks last week between Peres and the Palestinians--including the new finance and interior ministers--also produced little.

Palestinian Minister of Culture and Information Yasser Abed-Rabbo ridiculed the meetings in an interview with Israeli television. “Nothing serious was discussed,” he said. “Peres came with empty hands. He was not able to discuss in depth any of the issues that are substantial to the Palestinian side,” such as troop withdrawals.

A second round of talks scheduled for Saturday was postponed at the last minute.

Power Quartet to Meet

To spur the process, Powell will focus on how to promote reforms when he meets today with envoys from the so-called quartet--the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations--that began overseeing the peace process in April. The group will later be joined by the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers.

As an initial step, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Cheney orchestrated the creation in London last week of an international task force that includes the quartet plus the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Japan and Norway--the last for its role in the 1993 Oslo accords that launched the now-crippled peace process.

The task force will focus on getting resources to groups outside the current Palestinian Authority leadership to create new institutions and reform. Powell and the quartet will work on a comprehensive action plan, including specific tasks, standards and benchmarks for reform, administration officials say.

“The work is moving apace. It’s not yet a finished plan, but we are getting respectably close to that point. It’s this effort that the quartet principals will bless as the way to support reform,” said a senior administration official who requested anonymity.

The task force will then meet on a regular basis, with subgroups focusing on specific areas such as elections, an independent judiciary and financial accountability. Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, will oversee this effort for the United States.

Unlike other nascent states before independence, the Palestinian Authority is not the responsibility or mandate of any other nation or international institution, so the task force would play part of that role, U.S. officials say.

On Thursday, Bush and Powell will meet with the Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers in Washington.

“It is not a secret that the Bush speech had positive and negative points, but we want to maximize the positive points and inquire about the points that require clarification,” said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. The Arabs also want to “explain our stance on the negative points.”

Despite the hurdles in winning over allies and the sizable political, economic and security challenges in the region, Bush administration officials claim to be optimistic.

The United States has “a lot of faith” in the Palestinian people’s ability to take control of their own lives and institute change, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told Israeli television last week.

“If all of this goes well, we could be talking about matters of months and not too many years until we could see an end to the conflict in the Middle East,” she said.

Wright reported from Washington and Curtius from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Times staff writer Michael Slackman in Cairo contributed to this report.