WASHINGTON, April 1 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush on Monday said he would not label Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat a terrorist since the Arab leader remained engaged in peace negotiations despite a week of devastating suicide bombings within Israeli cities.
"We've got a plan that will lead to peace. It's a security plan called Tenet, it's a political plan called Mitchell. Both sides have agreed to this plan," said Bush speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.
The president said that Arafat's involvement in negotiating a peace settlement was prevented him from designating him a terrorist.
That is despite Bush's repeated calls for Arafat to reign in terrorists who reside in the West Bank and who have carried out a series of brutal and deadly suicide bombings over the last week, including an attack in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon.
"Chairman Arafat has agreed to a peace process. He's agreed to the Tenet plan. He's agreed to the Mitchell plan. He has negotiated with parties as to how to achieve peace," Bush said.
Bush said he was "heartened" by Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Abdullah's support for an Israeli state, calling it a "positive development" until "the terrorist suicide bombers started killing innocent people."
The president said: "Suicide bombing in the name of religion is simple terror. And the free world, the civilized world must band together to stop this kind of activity if we expect there to be peace and resolution in the Middle East."
He also did not call his U.S.-led anti-terrorism coalition -- which includes numerous Arab nations -- to take action against Arafat.
The administration's position appears to go against the grain of its own doctrine that Bush has consistently repeated since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: If a country or individual supports or harbors a terrorist, it would be treated as such.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters Monday that both parties were "this close" to a settlement agreement with the help of U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni before bombings took place on Wednesday. Fleischer said that from a historical standpoint, it was customary for violence to get worse when an agreement was so near resolution.
"The history of the Middle East has been for every step forward there's a step backwards; sometimes it's two steps forward, one backward, sometimes it's two backward from one forward. The president always wants to find a way to keep the process moving forward even in times of violence," Fleischer said.
Fleischer also pointed to Zinni's continued presence in the region and said Bush continued to have "full faith" in his ability to bring the parties together.
It was on Wednesday that violence in the region reached a fever pitch. Increasing incidents of violence from both sides of the border deteriorated Arab-Israeli relations. Dozens of Israelis have been killed and more than 150 wounded since Wednesday night, most of them in a suicide bombing in the dining hall of a seaside hotel in Netanya north of Tel Aviv in what Israelis are calling the Passover massacre.
Israeli tanks stormed Ramallah, the West Bank city where Arafat's offices are located. His headquarters were surrounded and infiltrated Friday by Israeli forces with reports of room-to-room fighting within the compound.
Over the weekend, Israeli troops and tanks rolled into the West Bank towns of Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Qalqilya and Tulkarim, Palestinian and Israeli security officials said. Israel also arrested approximately 500 Palestinians and took them in for questioning.
Arafat, speaking by candlelight and surrounded by supporters over the weekend, called on the international community to help him, an entreaty that essentially fell on deaf ears.
While the White House said it backed Israel's right to defend itself, Bush said it remained important for Sharon to keep open a pathway to peace.
"To understand that, on the one hand, Israel should protect herself, and on the other hand, there ought to be a pathway, a capacity to achieve a peaceful resolution to this issue. It's important for Israel to understand that," Bush said.
Fleischer told reporters that Bush did not give Sharon a "green light" to undertake military operations against Arafat.
Over the weekend, lawmakers called on Bush to become more involved in the peace process. Bush defended his participation saying he and Powell had spent the weekend talking to world leaders.
Fleischer said Bush and Powell spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana,
and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
