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Sharon's Documents Will Not Affect U.S. Position on Arafat: State Dept.
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Powell meets Sharon prior to meeting Bush and presenting "evidence" against Arafat
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By Ayesha Ahmad, IOL Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON,
May 9 (IslamOnline) - Documents presented by the Israelis to the U.S.
government on the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to
Washington this week will not affect the U.S. policy of working with
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and pressuring him to change,
rather than condemning him as a terrorist, according to senior
officials.
"The
bottom line has to be the same," a senior State Department
official said Tuesday, May 7, in response to questions about the
effect of the documents on U.S. policy regarding Arafat.
"Arafat
and other Palestinian leaders have to lead the Palestinian authority
in the right direction," the official said. "They need to
change their behavior."
Israel
claims the hundreds of pages captured during Israeli attacks on
Ramallah contain information proving that Arafat is a terrorist.
During Sharon's stay in Washington, media reported that Sharon would
try to convince U.S. President George W. Bush that Arafat could not be
relied upon to do his part because Arafat himself was involved in
terrorism.
But
the State Department downplayed the possibility, saying that the U.S.
had already expressed much of what was being said - that the
Palestinian Authority was corrupt and that Arafat was not exercising
his leadership the way he should, for example.
"We've
spoken ourselves of the problems that exist within the Palestinian
Authority with Chairman Arafat's leadership," State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters Tuesday.
"We
have made the point… that the Palestinian leadership needs to
distance itself from violence and terrorism, needs to stop any
collaboration that might exist between elements in the PLO or the
Palestinian Authority with terrorists."
Regarding
the documents, Boucher would only say, "We'll look at the Israeli
information and see if they've acquired new and additional
information."
In
response to questions specifically about the possibility of the U.S.
refusing to work with Arafat if the documents convinced them of
Arafat's involvement in "terrorism," Boucher repeated to
IslamOnline the administration's continued expectations of Arafat.
"We've
made repeatedly clear… that what we expect of Chairman Arafat and
the other leaders of the Palestinian Authority is to exercise
leadership and to exercise authority in a way that ends the violence,
that ends the terrorism, and puts the Palestinian people on a
different course," he said.
Palestinians
have said that the allegations against Arafat in the documents are
false.
Chief
Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erakat, said Monday, May 6, "The
report which Sharon plans to present to American President (George W.)
Bush is a fabrication. It is false and riddled with lies."
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