Bush Says He Has Never Respected Arafat
May 21, 2002 10:15 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Tuesday he has never respected Yasser Arafat because the Palestinian president had let his own people down, leaving them "poor and isolated and frustrated."
Speaking to European reporters ahead of a trip to Germany, Russia, France and Italy, Bush reiterated his April 4 speech in which he said Arafat had failed the Palestinian people.
"He's had a chance to lead. He had a chance to get a peace agreement with my predecessor. He's had chance after chance. And by failing to lead, he has really let the Palestinians down," Bush said.
"I say that with a lot of angst in my heart, because I am concerned about the plight of the Palestinian citizenry, poor and isolated and frustrated," he said. "Somebody said, has he earned your respect? I said, he never had my respect, because ... he let his people down. The role of a leader is to lead."
Bush's remarks could anger many Palestinians who complain the United States has pro-Israel policies, preventing it from being an honest broker for peace in the region.
Arafat's popularity among Palestinians and across the Arab world rose this year while Israel besieged the longtime leader in his headquarters, but it appears to have fallen back since the siege was lifted.
In recent weeks, Palestinian calls have grown louder for reforms within the impoverished Palestinian Authority that would loosen his grip on power, but it is unclear if potential successors have as much appeal as Arafat.
Bush said Middle East peace was possible, saying it would require U.S. leadership, tough choices by Israel to accept a Palestinian state, a commitment by the Palestinians to renounce and to fight terrorism, and the involvement of the Arab nations in building institutions necessary for a Palestinian state.
In 2000, Arafat turned away from a comprehensive peace settlement former President Bill Clinton tried to forge along with Israel's then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Arafat has reached interim peace accords with Israel in the past. Under the 1993 Oslo peace accords and through successive deals, Arafat has gained control, partially or fully, of about 40 percent of the West Bank and much of the Gaza Strip.
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