Israelis and Arabs Press Their Views

It was a day of dizzying diplomacy even by Washington standards Monday as Israeli and Arab leaders whizzed around the capital in rival motorcades scrambling to have the last word as the United States tries to jump-start the Middle East peace process.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spent most of the day trying to accomplish through diplomacy what couldn’t be done with his tanks and troops--get Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat bumped from the peace process.

Sharon’s closed-doors talks at his hotel with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell ran long past lunchtime. So Powell later had to grab a chicken salad sandwich and Diet Coke on the go.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, pushing his plea for a grand political deal to end a half-century-old conflict, blitzed through sessions with Powell, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, as well as separate talks with Jewish Americans and Arab Americans. The king crammed so much into his day that he didn’t get lunch at all.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal was such a late addition to the State Department schedule that some in the administration didn’t know he was in Washington until he and Powell held a news briefing at the State Department.

All three Middle East officials have been here many times. For Sharon, it was the fifth visit in 17 months. But this time, after a massive Israeli campaign in the West Bank, the meetings carried the hint of a possible turning point--of real advantage to be gained or lost when Sharon sits down with President Bush for their face-to-face meeting in the Oval Office this afternoon.

The jockeying was frantic--and occasionally nasty. Although the theme was peace, some of the delegations appeared most intent on proving that the other side was an unworthy partner.

The sense of tension was particularly prevalent between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The Israeli Embassy assembled Washington’s diplomatic press corps for a lengthy briefing to reveal documents alleging that millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia was deliberately distributed to families of Palestinian suicide bombers and to the militant Islamic organization Hamas, one of three groups involved in the recent wave of terrorist attacks.

“The Saudi Committee for Support of the Intifada was aware that the funds it transferred were paid to the families of terrorists who perpetrated murderous attacks in Israeli cities,” said the thick report handed to the press.

Israeli officials traveling with Sharon charged that the Saudi funds in effect provided a motive to carry out attacks--and made Saudi Arabia a party to terrorism.

“If Saudi policy is to finance suicide bombers, then they probably cannot be part of the peace coalition,” Israeli Education Minister Limor Livnat told reporters.

The news conference took so long that reporters missed the briefing with Powell and the Saudi foreign minister--at which the secretary of State praised the Saudis for “important” recent contributions to the peace process.

Saudi Arabia sponsored the Arab League offer to Israel of normalized relations in exchange for the Jewish state’s withdrawal from occupied territories. Powell said the proposal is one of the elements of the new U.S. strategy.

But by day’s end, Saudi Arabia shot back angrily at the Israelis with news releases faxed all over town.

Calling the charges “shameful and counterproductive,” Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar ibn Sultan said in a statement that the allegations were “a smokescreen intended to distract attention away from the peace process.”

“Israel wants to discredit Saudi Arabia, which has been ... a catalyst for a peace plan that has been positively received by more than 60 world leaders.”

The statement said Saudi Arabia is committed to aiding 3million Palestinians “victimized by Israeli violence” by rebuilding schools, restocking hospitals and restoring electricity, telephones and food as part of its financial assistance distributed through the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

By day’s end, Israel hadn’t provided the State Department with copies of its claims about the Saudi aid--leading U.S. officials to discreetly suggest that the report was in part a public relations ploy.

A senior U.S. official who asked to remain anonymous said, “We need the Saudis right now. [The Israelis] need the Saudis right now. This doesn’t make sense.”

The dispute illustrated the huge gap that the Bush administration must bridge before it can organize its proposed international conference that would include all the region’s major players.

In media appearances around town, Sharon advisor Danny Ayalon said Arafat has “more than three strikes” against him and should be “definitely out” of the peace process.

In an interview with CNN, Ayalon said that asking Israel to negotiate with Arafat was like asking the United States to negotiate with Osama bin Laden.

Bush, during brief remarks while visiting a school in Michigan, reiterated his disappointment in Arafat. But he made clear that he believes Arafat still has a role to play. “He must lead,” Bush said. “He must show the world that he believes in peace.”

The Israelis also disagree with the administration over the scope of the proposed conference. They want to avoid a focus on a final settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and limit new efforts to interim security arrangements that would be spread over several years.

“I am for peace, but I am first for security,” Sharon said in an address Monday night to the Anti-Defamation League.

Jordan’s King Abdullah, at each of his stops Monday, stressed the urgency of moving to a final settlement with a well-defined timeline so that the Palestinian people will have hope.

“Sharon’s idea of an interim arrangement and an open-ended process simply does not work. We can’t sell it to anyone in the region,” said a senior Jordanian official traveling with the monarch. “If there’s no commitment to an endgame very soon, then we’re not going to be able to help Arafat stop the radical organizations.”

Times staff writers Johanna Neuman and Esther Schrader contributed to this report.