HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------But he has no problem meeting the man that ordered the murder of potential witnesses against him in Belgium.
Cheney's schedule is unlikely to include Arafat
By Judy Keen
USA TODAYDOHA, Qatar -- Vice President Cheney might meet with Palestinian officials when he arrives in Israel today as part of an intensified effort by the Bush administration to seek a cease-fire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Senior advisers to Cheney, who is nearing the end of an 11-country tour of the Middle East, said a meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is a long shot, but other officials of Arafat's Palestinian Authority might be added to the vice president's schedule.''I would be surprised if the vice president meets Arafat,'' said Paul Patin, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. In the past, President Bush and Cheney have refused to meet with Arafat because they said he wasn't doing enough to stem attacks on Israelis. Secretary of State Colin Powell is the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with the Palestinian leader since Bush took office. They met in the West Bank city of Ramallah last June.As soon as he arrives in Jerusalem, Cheney plans to meet with Bush's Middle East envoy, retired Marine general Anthony Zinni, who returned to Israel last week to try to broker a cease-fire. Later, the vice president is to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.Bush had tried to maintain a distance from the conflict on the grounds that the United States could not nudge the peace process forward until Israel and the Palestinians agreed to stop the violence. But he agreed to get more involved as killings have mounted.In Jerusalem, Israel's Defense Ministry announced that Israeli field commanders in the West Bank and Gaza held talks with their Palestinian counterparts on Sunday to stem the violence.The meetings appeared to be a first step by Israel toward beginning a withdrawal from West Bank and Gaza territory it reoccupied recently in response to increased Palestinian attacks on Israelis.The Palestinians have said they would honor a cease-fire only if Israeli pulled its forces from all Palestinian-run areas.Israel said it was prepared to meet that demand if Arafat would take responsibility for preventing further terrorist attacks on Israelis.On the eve of Cheney's visit, Zinni shuttled between Sharon and Arafat and later broke a self-imposed media blackout to denounce five attempted suicide attacks on Israeli civilians in one day.''These attacks will not deter my efforts to continue to work with both sides to bring the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation to an end,'' Zinni said. ''At the same time, it is critical that the Palestinian Authority take responsibility and act against terror and punish those responsible. There is no justification or excuse for terror.''Despite his harsh words, Zinni is hopeful a cease-fire can be achieved, U.S. officials said.Only one of Sunday's attacks claimed serious Israeli casualties. A 26-year-old gunman opened fire with a pistol in the main street of the central Israeli town of Kfar Saba, killing a 16-year-old girl and injuring seven passersby before being shot to death by police and security guards.Earlier, Israel Radio reported that two Palestinians on their way to carry out suicide attacks in Israel had been captured in the northern West Bank by a special undercover unit. There were no further details.Less than three hours after the shooting in Kfar Saba, Jerusalem police received a call from a local resident reporting a suspicious man near the French Hill junction in the north of the city, scene of several previous attacks. As police responded to the call, the 23-year-old man, a resident of the nearby village of Bir Naballah, blew himself up next to a crowded bus. No one else was seriously injured.An hour after that, there was a loud explosion in a valley a mile away. Authorities said another wosuicide bomber had detonated his explosives by mistake and had blown himself to pieces in open scrubland.One Palestinian, a member of Arafat's militia, was killed in a gunbattle in Bethlehem, where Israeli forces advanced toward the center of the city and then withdrew.Cheney's 10-day trip to the Middle East is meant to build support for a U.S.-led effort to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But some Arab leaders say they do not support a war to force Saddam's removal. The views of Arab leaders on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have become a dominant theme of the trip.Cheney had insisted that the conflict was not overshadowing his trip. On Sunday, at a news conference in Manama, Bahrain, with Crown Prince Sheik Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Cheney said, ''The ongoing conflict . . . is a preoccupation for everybody in this part of the world.''The crown prince said Sunday that Arabs are more concerned about ''Israeli violence'' than Saddam's fate. He said it's ''too soon'' to speculate on whether U.S. troops would be allowed to use bases in Bahrain to launch an attack on Iraq but added, ''Bahrain has always honored its commitments.''From Israel, Cheney will visit Turkey and return to Washington on Wednesday.On Saturday, Cheney delivered an invitation from Bush for Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah to visit the president at his ranch in Texas. Abdullah accepted Bush's invitation, but a date for the meeting has not been set.
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