Byline: MIKE ALLEN Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- President Bush set a cautious course for U.S. involvement in Middle East peace negotiations on Thursday, demanding that Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat act to reduce terrorism but shunning active intervention.
In Jerusalem, Israel's defense chief, Binyamin Ben-Elierzer, didn't rule out sending troops into Palestinian-controlled areas in pursuit of militants, saying Israeli soldiers would go ``any place'' that endangers the Jewish state, according to the Associated Press.
Arafat, meanwhile, warned that the Palestinian uprising would press ahead as renewed clashes in the West Bank and Gaza left four Palestinians were killed.
During the second solo news conference of his administration, Bush said he is ``deeply concerned about the escalating violence in the Middle East.''
He urged the Palestinian authority to ``speak out publicly and forcibly ... to condemn violence and terrorism'' and called for restraint from the Israeli military.
``But our fellow citizens have got to realize that in order for there to be a peace, there has to be two willing parties,'' he said. ``We will continue to try to convince the parties to become willing to sit down and negotiate a lasting peace. But this country cannot impose a timetable nor settlement on the parties if they're unwilling to accept it.''
``The government of Israel, for its part, should exercise restraint in its military response,'' Bush added. Asked whether it was a mistake for the United States to step back from the Middle East peace process at a time of rising violence, Bush said he's ``said all along that this nation will not try to force a peace settlement in the Middle East -- that we will facilitate a peace settlement.''
``We have been fully engaged in the Middle East,'' he said, noting he and other administration officials are ``on the phone all the time to the leaders.''
He said he'd asked Secretary of State Colin Powell ``to call Chairman Arafat today, and contact other leaders to urge them to stand against violence.'' Powell made the call later in the day.
On Capitol Hill, Assistant Secretary of State Edward Walker told a House subcommittee that officials so far have seen ``absolutely no response'' from Arafat to U.S. demands for an end to violence.
CAPTION(S):
LAURENT REBOURS/ASSOCIATED PRESS ISRAELI SOLDIERS move amid clashes between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in Hebron Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment