There are those who found differences between what President Bush said to journalists while hosting the Egyptian president on Saturday, and what he said while the Israeli prime minister was sitting beside him in the White House, two days later. With Mubarak, it's said, Bush emphasized the need for political progress while reforms get underway in the Palestinian Authority, and with Sharon, Bush focused on the reforms in the PA as a condition without which it will not be possible to begin movement on the political track. There were also those who found nuances of difference between what the president said in the Oval Office and how they were interpreted by his spokesman, Ari Fleischer, when he briefed reporters. The spokesman emphasized, again, the political horizon.
But it seems that on one key issue - Yasser Arafat's personality, functioning and influence - President Bush and senior officials in his administration are consistent and unified. There is no mistaking Bush's profound reservations about the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, nor the president's readiness to express that feeling publicly at every opportunity. Arafat's failure - or refusal - to prevent or even restrain the terror attacks repeatedly striking Israel has become the primary factor determining American policy.
The prime minister regards the stiffening of the American position against Arafat as a personal accomplishment, proof of his powers of persuasion. But it seems that the overall American effort against terrorism carries even larger weight. Arafat's deeds and failures have turned him into someone identified with America's terrorist enemies, in the eyes of the American public and their leader.
Thus, the Palestinian leader has also become a practical obstacle to any diplomatic breakthrough. Washington's efforts to convene a conference of regional foreign ministers should be welcomed, but it seems from the president's statements that even he doesn't hang much hope on that. It would be better, therefore, to realistically view the coming period as an interim one, in which the main effort will be to manage and control the conflict while taking defensive steps such as the security fence on which construction begins this week.
Above all, it is important during this period to avoid escalation of any kind, particularly with regard to necessary military operations, which should be as brief and as limited as possible to avoid unnecessary friction.
This is also true with regard to the settlements. Obviously, new settlements should not be added, nor existing ones expanded, to avoid nurturing once again the destructive illusion that their existence is guaranteed, or desirable, or even possible, in the long run. And especially since there's no sign of any political movement on the near horizon, the government should reconsider and remove those various outposts (some of which are illegal) that unjustifiably and illogically only add to the security burden
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