Thursday March 29 2:51 PM ET

Bush Blames Arafat Inaction for Bloodshed

By Deborah Charles

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday blamed inaction by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for the cycle of Middle East bloodshed and President Bush said he was telling Arafat ``loud and clear'' to stop the violence so that peace talks can resume.

``The signal I am sending to the Palestinians is stop the violence and I can't make it any more clear,'' Bush told a news conference. ``I hope that Chairman Arafat hears it loud and clear. He's going to hear it again on the telephone today.''

Secretary of State Colin Powell made the point in a telephone call to Arafat later.

The senior State Department official in charge of the Middle East, breaking with any attempt at neutrality, went several steps further than Bush, saying that Arafat's actions were not those of a man who wants to see a negotiated peace.

Assistant Secretary of State Edward Walker told members of Congress that while the new Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had taken a constructive approach, the United States had seen no such steps from Arafat.

``In contrast, we have seen absolutely no response from Arafat to our urgings to him to help bring the violence to a stop,'' he said. ``He has made no statements that would indicate that he is opposed to violence or that he even wants to see it stop.

``In fact he has called for the continuation of the Intifada (Palestinian uprising). He has not given any orders, secret or otherwise, to his forces which could bring some measure of control...over the situation.''

In public, no official in the Bush administration has come closer to adopting the Israeli view that Arafat is responsible for the violence and could stop it by giving orders.

Blames Arafat For Veto

Walker said Arafat had deliberately forced the United States to use its veto against a Middle East resolution in the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. He implied that Arafat played a part in the latest attacks on Israelis, including the shooting of a Jewish child in the West Bank town of Hebron.

He speculated that Arafat forced the veto and encouraged the attacks to coincide with this week's Arab summit in Amman, which pledged $240 million in aid to the Palestinians.

``One could make the assumption that the series of suicide bombers and the shooting of a child...were also designed to develop a strong reaction by the Israelis during the summit. This isn't the evidence we want to see of a man who wants an end to the violence, who wants to see peace negotiated,'' Walker told a House of Representatives subcommittee.

President Bush, at his news conference, urged Israel to exercise restraint but focused strongly on the need for Palestinians to halt the violence.

``This is not the first time the message has been delivered. It's so important in order for there to be any kind of discussion about peace that we stop the violence in the Middle East,'' Bush said.

On Israel, he said: ``It should take steps to restore normalcy to the lives of the Palestinian people by easing closures and removing checkpoints.''

Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians in the latest bloodshed in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Two people were killed and Arafat's Gaza home was damaged during Israeli helicopter attacks on his presidential guard on Wednesday.

Arab Leaders

The air strikes, which followed a series of bombings in Israel by Islamic militants, were the first major Israeli military actions under the Sharon government.

Walker's analysis of the violence was close to the one Sharon presented when he visited the United States last week -- the first of several Middle East leaders to make direct contact with senior figures in the Bush administration.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan are the next Middle East visitors. They are expected to tell Bush that the United States must intervene to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Bush said the United States could not impose a deadline for talks but he was trying to work with other regional leaders to ease tension.

``Obviously our voice is an important voice for bringing calm to the Middle East and so are other nations,'' he said.

``I look forward to visiting with President Mubarak and King Abdullah to rally them to try to convince, particularly in their case, Mr. Arafat to speak out against violence in a language that the Palestinians can understand,'' he added.

Walker, answering pro-Israeli members of Congress who want stronger steps against Arafat's Palestinian Authority, said: ``We are prepared to work with him if he is prepared to work with us. Right now we don't see it.''

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001