Analysis: Bush-style diplomacy in Mideast

WASHINGTON, June 3 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush came away Tuesday from his first full day of personal diplomacy in the Middle East with a public renunciation of terrorism in any form and for any reason from Arab leaders and an apparent enhancing of the stature of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in a renewed peace process.

Abbas, appointed Palestinian Authority prime minister in March by long-time Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and later endorsed by the Palestinian Parliament, has been embraced by Washington as a welcomed alternative to Arafat, who the White House views as tainted by continued links to anti-Israeli terrorism.

"We recognize that President Arafat is still an elected president and he still has standing with the Palestinian people," Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday. "But we have said clearly, since last year, that we believe that his leadership has failed and it was time for new leadership to come forward.

"We now see that new leadership and we're working with it.

"And for Mr. Arafat to serve as a spoiler or attempt to be a spoiler, I hope (that) will be met by resistance from all of the Arab leaders who are here today, and such spoiling activities would be met with resistance by the international community."

But complete abandonment of Arafat may not have been achieved.

Powell, in his comments, indicated there was reluctance on the part of the Arabs, as well as some European nations, to elbow Arafat into total irrelevance.

"I recognize that others, many of my European colleagues and the Arab leaders who are here today, still recognize Mr. Arafat and will be in contact with him and work with him, and that is their choice to make," he said.

"But above all, I hope the Palestinian people will see that in this new leadership, which they elected through their legislature, we have a chance that had previously been denied to the Palestinian people, and will not let anyone, to include Mr. Arafat, deny them that opportunity."

The condemnation of anti-Israel violence was made in comments by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on behalf of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Bahrain King Hamad Isa al Khalifa and Jordan's King Abdullah II, who had talks with Bush in the resort of Sharm el Sheik after. Bush had cut short his attendance at the G8 summit in France to personally try to kick-start the so-called road map to peace that would lead to creation of an independent Palestinian state in three years.

Under the peace plan developed by Washington in consultation with Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, Israelis and Palestinians would follow a process of confidence-building steps.

A key Palestinian responsibility was cracking down on anti-Israeli terrorism launched from its territories by extremist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

"We support the determination of the Palestinian Authority to fulfill its responsibility to end violence and to maintain law and order, as announced by Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas," Mubarak said.

"We affirm our position against terrorism and violence. We will continue to fight the scourge of terrorism against humanity, and reject the culture of extremism and violence in any form or shape, from whatever source or place, regardless of justification or motives ... "

All three states are considered U.S. allies. In their endorsement of the peace plan, they also called upon Israel to fulfill its responsibilities to "rebuild trust and restore normal Palestinian life, and to carry out its other obligations under the road map, thus promoting progress toward the president's vision."

Bush, since unveiling the plan May 1, has repeatedly called for all parties to the conflict, including Arab states, to actively embrace their responsibilities to help the process move forward.

"Any lasting arrangement needs the support of neighbors," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice reiterated in a news conference in Egypt Tuesday.

The administration sees a key ingredient for success is the removal of Arafat from the peace equation.

Arafat, under intense pressure from Arab leaders, finally stepped back from the day-to-day running of the Palestinian Authority after Bush and Israel made it clear they would no longer deal with him in any peace process.

"... Nobody in Israel today believes that Yasser Arafat is a partner (in peace)," former Ambassador Dennis Ross said on television Sunday. "Now Abu Mazen himself is trying to demonstrate that he is a partner by saying things Arafat never did."

Abu Mazen is the nom de guerre of Mahmoud Abbas, who with Arafat helped found the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Ross was the U.S. point man for the Middle East under President Bill Clinton.

Abbas has accepted the "road map" and denounced terrorism as morally wrong. He is trying to affect a cease-fire by Hamas and other groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has also accepted the plan -- but with more than a dozen objections to specific points -- and has met twice with Abbas. Both will meet with Bush Wednesday in Aqaba, Jordan.

Arafat was not invited to Sharm el Sheik. Nor was he invited to Aqaba, despite a vociferous complaint in which he was responsible for negotiating a peace, which would have to be approved by the Palestinian Executive Council, which he controls.

Complicating Abbas' efforts to gain in power and influence is the fact Arafat is still a force to be reckoned with among the Palestinians.

"Yasser Arafat views this as a zero-sum game," Ross told Fox Television. "Every gain for Abu Mazen is his loss. Arafat needs Abu Mazen to fail, because in a couple of months' time he want to come back and say, 'See, it wasn't me. I'm not the problem ... there isn't someone else to come in and rescue this.'"

Arab states can help, he said, by publicly embracing Abbas.

Arafat had many times before promised to crack down on anti-Israeli terrorism, but bombing and attacks have continued. In January 2002, Israel seized a ship in the Red Sea carrying 50 tons of weapons and explosives reportedly destined for the Palestinian Authority, further exacerbating U.S. and Israeli dissatisfaction with Arafat and his pronouncements.

Abbas is apparently being given more trust. The Bush administration has said that 100-percent effort by Abbas to stop terrorism would weigh more heavily in the peace process than the actual success of the efforts.

The Bush administration believes reforms underway in the Palestinian Authority and Abbas represent a special window of opportunity for helping to resolve the Mideast conflict, but is not sanguine about the road ahead.

"There are many difficult issues that are in front of us -- the right of return, on the status of Jerusalem, how we're going to deal with the settlement issue -- many difficult issues," he said Tuesday. "And we're going to get to those issues. And there are strong views held by Israelis, by Palestinians and by the Arab leaders who are here today. We will get to each and every one of them in due course.

"But what we had to do was to get started. We had to get started, and that's what we have done today, and that's what we will do tomorrow, by the kind of commitments that you heard the Arab leaders made today, and what you will hear, I'm quite sure, from Prime Minister Sharon and Prime Minister Abbas tomorrow: New commitment to end terror and violence ...."