A Palestinian State Requires New Leadership, Bush Says

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Monday called on the Palestinians to reject their current leadership and elect a new generation of democratic reformers to oversee the transition to a permanent state, a process he said could be completed within three years if the Palestinians move quickly.

Although he did not mention Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat by name, Bush’s blunt language was widely interpreted as urging a complete break with the founding father of Palestinian nationalism because of his failure to rein in violence against Israelis.

“Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership so that a Palestinian state can be born,” Bush said. “I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders not compromised by terror.”

After the speech, a senior administration official told reporters that the latest spate of Palestinian suicide bombings against Israel had “crystallized” the administration’s thinking and underscored its growing disappointment with current Palestinian leaders. “Finally, you have to say something has to change, something has to be different,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bush’s long-awaited speech represented a new tack in efforts to revive the Middle East peace process, which has been deadlocked by the escalating violence between Palestinians and Israelis since September 2000. But his implicit call for the replacement of Arafat, who was elected in 1996, could spark controversy among Palestinians and Arabs.

Said Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat: “President Arafat was elected by the Palestinian people in a direct election.... And President Bush must respect the choice of the Palestinian people.”

In a brief statement, Arafat himself said he welcomed Bush’s ideas and called the speech a “serious effort to push the peace process forward.” He said he hoped for direct discussions with the administration, although it is unclear whether the White House will designate anyone to talk with him again. Bush himself has never met with Arafat.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office endorsed Bush’s approach, saying diplomatic progress can be made only after the Palestinian Authority gets new leadership and undergoes “genuine reforms.”

But Bush’s proposals could face questions or challenges from U.S. allies in Europe, Russia and the United Nations, all of whom are partners with the United States in the “quartet” coalition overseeing the peace process.

Reacting to the speech, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: “The issue of who should lead the Palestinian people is one that only the Palestinian people themselves can decide.”

In his vision for breaking the impasse in the Middle East, Bush issued several other tough and sweeping demands for reforms as conditions for the Palestinians to win statehood. These include a new constitution, a stronger parliament, an independent judiciary, a market-based economy and an end to corruption.

The goal must be to overhaul a system where power is held in the hands of “an unaccountable few,” he said. The president warned that the United States would not accept “cosmetic” changes or a “veiled attempt to preserve the status quo.”

The president called for democratic elections for local Palestinian offices by year’s end, with national elections soon thereafter.

To clamp down on extremism and provide a safe environment for both Palestinians and Israelis, Bush said the Palestinians must undertake an “externally supervised” reorganization of their police and security forces.

“A Palestinian state will never be created by terror. It will be built through reform,” he said.

He charged that as the Palestinian Authority is currently structured, officials are “encouraging, not opposing terrorism.”

As an incentive to the Palestinians to heed the president’s demands, senior administration sources said initial steps by them could be rewarded by the creation of a state with provisional borders in 18 months.

“When the Palestinian people have new leaders, new institutions and new security arrangements with their neighbors, the United States of America will support the creation of a Palestinian state, whose borders and certain aspects of its sovereignty will be provisional until resolved as part of a final settlement in the Middle East,” Bush said.

Bush pledged that his administration is prepared to become deeply involved in major aspects of creating a Palestinian state. For instance, he said the United States, with European and Arab governments, would help the Palestinians develop a new “constitutional framework” for a “working democracy.”

Washington is further prepared to increase financial aid to ease suffering among the Palestinians, who have seen their economy decline significantly since the current intifada, or uprising, began 21 months ago. Along with the European Union, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the administration would help oversee reforms in Palestinian finances, Bush said.

Well into the speech, the president made tough demands of Israel, including an end to Jewish settlement “activity” in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and an eventual withdrawal from lands occupied during the 1967 Middle East War--both demands that are likely to trigger stiff resistance from key Israeli quarters.

A final settlement “means that the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 will be ended through a settlement negotiated between the parties,” with Israeli withdrawal to secure and recognized borders based on U.N. resolutions, Bush said.

Bush did not specify whether that meant Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories, although he implied that the Jewish state would have to give up most of the land.

The overall tenor of the speech reflected the Israeli position on movement toward a Palestinian state, particularly with regard to security guarantees and political reforms by the Palestinians as the first steps. In two visits to the White House over the last two months, Sharon has pressed Washington for such a sequence, meaning Palestinians would have to take major strides before Israel would reenter negotiations.

“A stable, peaceful Palestinian state is necessary to achieve the security that Israel longs for,” Bush said.

Although the president did address demands from several Arab leaders for a timeline, the onus is clearly on the Palestinians to act before Israel is required to make serious concessions, said U.S. specialists on the Middle East.

Bush said: “As new Palestinian institutions and new leaders emerge, demonstrating real performance on security and reform, I expect Israel to respond and work toward a final status agreement.”

For example, as violence subsides, Bush said, Israel must allow the Palestinian economy to develop and must restore freedom of movement, so ordinary Palestinians can return to work and a normal life.

Bush pledged that more rewards could come quickly if the Palestinians “energetically” adopt reforms. “With a dedicated effort, this state could rise rapidly, as it comes to terms with Israel,” he said.

The final settlement, he said, could be obtained in three years “with intensive effort by all of us.”

Arab Americans expressed disappointment in Bush for demanding too much from the Palestinians. “The president has set U.S. foreign policy and U.S.-Arab relations back,” said James J. Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute. “There is nothing here that could give the Palestinians hope.... The United States has failed this test of leadership in the Middle East.”

Other critics said Bush did not address how the process he outlined will move forward. Bush said he was designating Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to work with Middle Eastern and world leaders on a comprehensive plan on Palestinian reforms. But the president did not mention plans for a much anticipated international conference on the Middle East.

Bush also said little about key issues that would be part of a final settlement, such as the status of Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees.

The president’s call for a leadership change among the Palestinians seemed a shift from recent statements by him and other administration leaders. In an April interview, Bush said, “Far be it for an American leader to determine who can lead another country.”

More recently, Powell said the administration had “an obligation” to deal with Arafat as the elected and world-recognized leader of the Palestinian people.

The president delivered his speech in the White House Rose Garden, flanked by Powell, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

“The hatred of a few holds the hopes of many hostage,” Bush said. “The forces of extremism and terror are attempting to kill progress and peace by killing the innocent. And this casts a dark shadow over an entire region. For the sake of all humanity, things must change in the Middle East.”

Bush’s speech was well received in Congress, a bastion of strong support for Israel.

House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas), a conservative Republican who is one of Israel’s staunchest supporters, said Bush “showed strong moral leadership by acknowledging that the path to peace doesn’t run through Arafat’s compound.”

Times staff writer Janet Hook contributed to this report.