-Caveat Lector- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 14:09:37 -0700 From: Kari Sprowl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: palestinediary <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [PalestineDiary] Sharon Defies Bush's Request for Peace Talks /note the slant Israel is being cast as odd-man out Sharon Defies Bush's Request for Peace Talks Printer-Friendly Version Subscribe to The Post By Lee Hockstader Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, September 15, 2001; Page A28 JERUSALEM, Sept. 14 -- Defying a request from the Bush administration, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today forbade his foreign minister, Shimon Peres, to meet Sunday with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. President Bush had telephoned Sharon earlier today urging him to renew talks with the Palestinians to end the year-long Middle East violence. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell also had called with a similar message. But Sharon, under pressure from hard-liners in his government, ruled out the meeting that Peres has been trying for weeks to arrange to discuss a cease-fire with Arafat. "If we succumb now we'll give Arafat a photo op, a picture to show he's on the side against terrorism, and it's all a big lie," said a senior Israeli political source. "We can't let Arafat off the hook again. Sharon is not against the meeting, but it has to be when Arafat makes a commitment to end violence." Although the United States is Israel's most important ally and benefactor, Sharon in his long career in government has frequently defied Washington. Still, it is relatively rare for an Israeli leader to spurn a telephoned request by an American president. As it moves to assemble an international coalition against terrorism, the Bush administration is more eager than ever to cool off the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has inflamed passions in the Arab and Islamic worlds and left more than 550 Palestinians dead in 12 months. But Sharon's refusal to authorize a meeting with Arafat suggested Israel may be more focused on its conflict with the Palestinians than on a global campaign led by the United States. [Officials said Saturday that two Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, news services reported. A man was killed early Saturday during a clash with Israeli tanks at Khan Younis in central Gaza, and a 17-year-old was killed Friday by Israeli fire.] Israeli officials said they believe that in the aftermath of the attacks Tuesday in New York and Washington, Arafat is on the defensive and fearful of being categorized in Western perceptions as part of the international terrorist scourge. Desperate to avoid Washington's wrath and political pariah status, Arafat's Palestinian Authority has suppressed videotaped footage of some Palestinians celebrating news of the attacks against the United States and Arafat was filmed giving blood for the victims. But Sharon and his government, convinced they finally have a receptive audience in the shellshocked West, are determined to drive home a point they have been trying to make for months -- that Arafat is not a national leader but a terrorist. Sharon said as much to Powell in their telephone conversation Thursday, not for the first time comparing Arafat to Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in Tuesday's attacks. © 2001 The Washington Post Company ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Related Links ------------------------ Yahoo! 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