Report: Lose Clinton-era Mideast 'appeasement' policy
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Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Thursday, March 28, 2002
The Bush administration is being advised to review its
Middle East policy, particularly regarding the Palestinian Authority.
A report by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation said the United
States must reverse the policies set under the former Clinton
administration,
which supported Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. The report
said Arafat is not a credible partner for peace negotiations and has aligned
himself with Iran.
The administration should reduce expectations and focus on ending the
Israeli-PA war, said the report, authored by researcher James Phillips.
"Washington must fundamentally rethink the flawed appeasement policy
that has raised Palestinian expectations, whetted ArafatÕs appetite for
concessions, and led the Oslo negotiating process into a diplomatic dead
end," the report said. "The peace negotiations can be salvaged only by
rigorously holding the Palestinian Authority to its Oslo commitments and
ending Palestinian terrorism and mob thuggery."
The report said the administration should not support the PA until it
ends attacks on Israel. If this can't be achieved, the report said, the
administration should crack down on the Palestinian leadership.
"If Arafat refuses to end his incitement to violence and support of
terrorism, Washington should break relations with the Palestinian Authority,
close the PAÕs office in Washington, and seek to isolate it diplomatically,"
the report said.
The report also urged the administration to block any campaign to deploy
international peacekeepers in the Israeli-PA war. Phillips said previous
peacekeeping efforts by the United Nations in the Middle East have failed.
"They brought a false sense of security but did nothing to ease the
conflict," the report said. "Israelis naturally want to retain
responsibility for their own security in the face of continued Palestinian
terrorism."
A congressional study released on Tuesday in Washington said the Bush
administration appears to have targeted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for
assassination. The report, entitled "Iraq: U.S. Efforts to Change the
Regime," did not envision a military campaign against Iraq over the next few
months.
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