This is just one step closer toward adopting a policy of ethnic cleansing by the Israelis. We can all see this coming, and it is unfortunate.
Message 17697475
U.S. Faults Israeli Deportation Proposal
Criticism of Plan Targeting Militants' Families Follows Bush Pledge on Palestinians
washingtonpost.com
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 20, 2002; Page A15
The Bush administration yesterday sharply criticized an Israeli proposal to deport the families of Palestinian militants, saying that "taking punitive actions against innocent people will not solve Israel's security problems."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the administration would raise the issue with the Israeli government, which yesterday demolished the homes of the families of two Palestinians allegedly responsible for two attacks against Israeli civilians this week and arrested a number of family members.
The criticism came in the wake of what Arab diplomats who met Thursday with President Bush described as his strong commitment to move forward quickly on plans for Palestinian security reform, withdrawal of Israeli troops to their September 2000 positions, preparations for Palestinian elections, ideally by January, and final statehood within three years.
Within Israel and the Palestinian areas, the Middle East conflict appeared more frozen than ever. But among those working on the outside, energetic rhetoric and news of well-developed plans gave at least an appearance of progress.
A U.S. team designated by CIA Director George J. Tenet is expected to arrive in the occupied territories within the next two weeks for an assessment of the Palestinian security apparatus following Israel's destruction of much of its infrastructure and arrest of a number of its personnel, an administration source said.
The team plans to discuss proposals for streamlining Palestinian forces with the new Palestinian Authority interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, and then "go into the street" to assess Palestinian needs and capabilities, the source said.
Yehiyeh was one of two Palestinian officials, along with new Finance Minister Salam Fayad, who Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said were "trying to work on the transformation . . . seem to be acting with authority and . . . might start to fill the role" of providing able leadership. Talk of meetings with them appeared to mark the end of U.S. unwillingness to deal with members of the current Palestinian Authority, although there were no indications of a change in the administration's refusal to deal with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The CIA team's assessment will form the basis for implementing plans that administration and Arab officials said are already agreed to by the United States, Egypt and Jordan to restructure the security force and train new and existing police and security officers who have been vetted for corruption and terrorist connections. Money for implementation is expected to come from Saudi Arabia.
"The security work is well underway, almost completed in terms of creating a structure, concepts and a command structure," Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said yesterday. Muasher, who attended the meeting with Bush along with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, said the Palestinians had been consulted and were in agreement. "I think the Palestinians understand perfectly that they need to move effectively on security," he said.
"As security improves, we would expect Israel to withdraw" to the military positions it occupied when the current round of conflict began on Sept. 28, 2000, Boucher said. Israeli troops now occupy virtually every Palestinian population center on the West Bank, and maintain a system of checkpoints, security cordons and curfews in the rest of the territory. Israeli forces have also cordoned off the Gaza Strip and conducted military attacks against suspected terrorist installations inside its borders.
Under the plan, Israeli forces would gradually withdraw from pacified areas, restoring to Palestinian control 20 percent of the West Bank and two-thirds of the Gaza Strip, and be replaced by the newly structured Palestinian security forces.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said yesterday that "we tell the Palestinians, 'In any place that you can impose order, the IDF [Israeli Defense Force] will leave.' We have no calendared goals, but we want to withdraw as soon as possible."
Plans for progress in other areas depend on the security component working well and quickly. The Bush administration and the Arabs, along with the European Union, United Nations and Russia, are committed to a rapid resolution of the humanitarian crisis in the occupied territories, where up to half of the 3.3 million Palestinian population is believed to be verging on serious malnutrition. Under the occupation, many Palestinians are prohibited from leaving their homes to go to work or shop, and transport for relief provisions has been made difficult, if not impossible.
At the same time, preparations for elections, projected to take place by January under a new constitution, cannot go forward under current conditions. "We're certainly aware that many of the parties have raised this issue and understand that to have an open election, people have to be able to move around," Boucher said. "They have to be able to campaign. In order to achieve that, we need to improve the security."
After this week's attacks, Israel canceled plans to hold preliminary meetings with Palestinian financial and security officials. Announcement of the deportation proposal, and the demolitions and arrests, brought belligerent statements from leaders of militant Palestinian groups and promises of more violence.
Even the security planning presented a chicken-and-egg conundrum whose resolution was difficult to foresee. While Israel said it would not withdraw until the new, approved Palestinian force was ready, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Thursday that his government would not begin training a new Palestinian police until Israel withdrew.
And although yesterday's U.S. criticism of Israel was unusual in its directness, it was unclear how and how far Bush would push Israel to achieve the movement the Arab foreign ministers said he is committed to.
The White House was noticeably quiet on the issue yesterday, declining to comment publicly on the conclusions drawn by the Arabs. Its only comment came from Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer, who repeated Thursday's assessment that "it was a very good meeting, a very positive meeting. And the president emphasized the responsibility of all parties in the region to live up to their commitments -- the Arab nations, the Israelis and the Palestinians."
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