Bush, Cheney Press Israel to Ease Palestinian Offensive

The Bush administration intensified its efforts Wednesday to stop the cycle of violence in the Middle East, as President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney singled out Israel, calling on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to curtail his military operation against the Palestinians.

At the White House, Bush twice called Israel’s military offensive “not helpful” and said, “I certainly hope that Prime Minister Sharon is concerned about the loss of innocent life.”

In Egypt, Cheney said Israel as much as the Palestinians bears responsibility for stopping the violence. His comments marked a broadening of the long-standing U.S. call on Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to do more to rein in militants.

“I think the burden is on both parties to bring an end to the violence. It’s not going to be possible to make progress until both parties can agree to a cease-fire,” Cheney said on the second stop of a Middle East tour.

The leaders’ comments, coupled with the passage of a U.S.-sponsored United Nations Security Council resolution late Tuesday endorsing a Palestinian state, suggested that the White House is growing increasingly concerned about Israel’s conduct.

In addition, Bush and Cheney’s public pressure on Israel sent a new signal both to Arab leaders, who want Washington to restrain the prime minister, and to Sharon.

Still, the president reaffirmed that Israel’s right to exist must remain part of any Middle East peace accord, declaring, “There is nothing more deep than recognizing Israel’s right to exist.”

Soon after Bush spoke, his Middle East envoy, Anthony C. Zinni, left for Jerusalem to resume mediation between Israel and the Palestinians after the worst violence there in years.

“Zinni’s job is to go over there and to work to get conditions such that we can get into Tenet,” Bush said, referring to a cease-fire plan drafted by CIA Director George J. Tenet last year.

“And [Zinni’s] got a lot of work to do, but if I didn’t think he could make progress, I wouldn’t have asked him to go,” the president said.

The U.S. efforts to jump-start the Mideast peace process came as Cheney moved deeper into his mission of seeking Arab support to confront Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Cheney met Wednesday in the resort of Sharm el Sheik with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who predicted that Hussein will eventually allow weapons inspectors into Iraq. The inspectors, whose mandate is to seek out weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, left the country hours before U.S. and British bombing raids in 1998.

Cheney is demanding that if Hussein allows inspectors to return, they must be allowed to operate without restrictions and be able to go “anywhere, any time.”

During his White House news conference, Bush repeated his resolve to “deal with” Hussein, whom he called “a problem.”

Bush insisted that his administration is consulting with other countries, including Arab nations, on his intentions toward Iraq, but he added pointedly: “Again, all options are on the table. . . . One thing I will not allow is a nation such as Iraq to threaten our very future by developing weapons of mass destruction.”

The president said Cheney’s discussions in the Middle East represent “the first stage” of an anti-Hussein campaign.

The president said he didn’t see a conflict in planning a campaign against Iraq, which would anger many other Arab nations, while also seeking their continued support in the war on terrorism.

Mubarak, expressing optimism that talks next month between U.N. and Iraqi officials would lead to a new opening by Hussein, said, “My knowledge is that he’s going to accept the inspectors.”

But Mubarak also called for U.N. Security Council resolutions--intended to eliminate Iraq’s arsenal of chemical weapons and its nuclear and biological warfare programs--to be implemented “without inflicting more suffering on the Iraqi people.”

In addition, Mubarak warned that any steps taken must respect Iraq’s sovereignty and “territorial integrity,” sending a message that toppling the regime could lead to wider instability--a view widely shared among Arab nations.

On the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians, Mubarak said that “none of us can tolerate the continuation of that situation.”

“As Palestinians are expected to exert the maximum restraint possible,” he said, “Israel should . . . understand that the policy of collective punishment, demolition of homes, humiliation of Palestinian civil population and its current military offensive in civilian towns and villages cannot be tolerated and must be immediately stopped.”

As he makes his way across the region, the vice president is finding that the raw conflict bringing death to Israelis and Palestinians is intruding, at every meeting, on the broader agenda he set.

But senior officials in Cheney’s entourage are adamant that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be addressed during his travels on a parallel with efforts to expand the anti-terror campaign to deny Al Qaeda operatives refuge beyond Afghanistan.

As Cheney was planning his trip, the Israeli-Palestinian violence increased to such a level that he could ignore neither it nor the desire among Arab leaders, whose support he is courting, that the United States pressure Israel to step back.

Asked whether Cheney’s mission would have been eased if Sharon had not launched Israel’s latest offensive, one senior administration official said tartly, in a clear signal to Sharon, “Let’s say he did not coordinate his actions with me.”

Speaking pessimistically about efforts to broker a cease-fire, the official said, “We appear to be a long way from the prospects of resuming negotiations.”

But he denied that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had pushed the war on terrorism off the agenda in the countries the vice president is visiting on his 11-day trip.

“They are both major problems,” the official said. “Both need to be addressed. We need to have policies we’re pursuing on both tracks.”

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Chen reported from Washington and Gerstenzang from Sharm el Sheik.

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