Advertisement

US: Israel has right to self defense

By KATHY A. GAMBRELL, White House reporter

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The United States said Monday that Israel has the right to defend itself in the wake of last weekend's terrorist attacks that killed at least two dozen people and urged the Palestinian leadership to take action against those responsible for the acts.

"Israel has the right to defend itself and the president understands that clearly," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said in a morning briefing while U.S.-supplied Israeli helicopter gunships were destroying targets in Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Gaza compound.

Advertisement

The airstrikes wounded 18 people but Arafat was in Ramallah at the time.

Israel said the strikes were retaliation for a weekend-long wave of suicide bombings and other attacks carried out by Palestinians in Haifa, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip that killed more than two dozen Israelis. The Islamic extremist Hamas group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Advertisement

Fleischer declined to comment directly on the Israeli strikes.

In the past, the Bush administration has responded to attacks such as those at the weekend by condemning terrorism, asking the Palestinians to crack down on terrorists, and beseeching the Israelis to use restraint in its response.

This time, the administration has pointedly not urged restraint, though Fleischer did urge that all parties "to consider the consequences of whatever the actions they take today for how it impacts events tomorrow."

On Monday, Fleischer said Sharon and Bush had not spoken either immediately before or during the Israeli strikes against Gaza. He adamantly denied suggestions that the administration had given the go ahead to Israel. "The United States did not give anybody a green light because nobody asked for a green light," he told reporters.

Following the weekend's attacks, Bush returned early Sunday from Camp David, Md., to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in the United States for a planned 5-day visit. Sharon was in New York visiting the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes when the suicide bombing attacks began, he flew to Washington immediately and his meeting with Bush was moved up a day to enable him to leave Sunday night.

Advertisement

Sharon denounced the bombings and blamed Arafat for them. In Washington, U.S. officials declined to comment on the charges that Arafat was responsible.

"This is a real chance now for Chairman Arafat to show that he will take action against the terrorists, will claim responsibility for the brutal attacks in Israel," Fleischer said. "It's important now for Chairman Arafat to show that he represents peace and that he does not harbor terrorists and will not tolerate terrorism... The President thinks it's very important that the Palestinian jails not only have bars on the front, but no longer have revolving doors at the back."

Palestinian officials accused the United States of double standards.

"When five kids going to school are blown up by Israeli (booby trap) explosives, we don't hear these statements and positions from the United States... Calls on Sharon to arrest those responsible and take them to court," said Arafat adviser Basem Abu Sharif.

The U.S. State Department said Palestinian officials called during the attacks to ask the United States to have Israel stop the sorties.

A senior State Department official said, "We've told the Palestinians today they need to stay focused on what they can and must do to stop the violence and crack down on the extremists."

Advertisement

The United States has been trying to broker a peace deal between the two sides.

Last week, retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns left the United States to meet with Israelis and Palestinians in an effort to broker what Powell called a "durable cease-fire" under the Mitchell agreement.

The Mitchell agreement calls for a cease-fire followed by confidence-building measures before the resumption of political negotiations. Bush said last week the administration's objective was to convince both parties to make a conscious decision to come to the peace table, but cautioned that first it had to convince them that peace is necessary.

Latest Headlines