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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (24198)	4/9/2002 6:46:13 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

U.S. Renews Demands for Israeli Withdrawal Tue Apr 9 By Randall Mikkelsen OLD GREENWICH, Conn. (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday made fresh demands for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian areas as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) vowed to fight on in the wake of a deadly ambush. President Bush (news - web sites) expects more from Israel than a troop withdrawal from two West Bank cities and wants its forces pulled out of Palestinian areas now, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said on Tuesday. "He's still looking for results," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Connecticut for a speech and Republican fund-raising lunch. "The president's message remains that both parties, all parties have responsibilities. Israel's are to withdraw and to do so now. The Arab nations' responsibilities are to exercise statesmanship, create an environment for peace by condemning terrorism, by stopping the funding of terrorists, by stopping the press that engages in hatred against Israel or Jews." Later, Fleischer said the U.S. position still stood following news of the ambush at a Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin, which killed 13 Israeli soldiers, and a statement by Sharon that Israeli would continue its offensive. "(There is) no change from what I said this morning," he said. Under intense pressure from Bush and with the impending arrival of Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), the Israeli army withdrew from Qalqilya and Tulkarm but defied its closest political ally and main financial benefactor with raids on more Palestinian towns. The 11-day-old Israeli offensive raged elsewhere in Palestinian-ruled areas, including Jenin and Nablus, and there was no indication of a pullback from other towns and refugee camps seized after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 27 people in an Israeli hotel on March 27. Days of defiance from Sharon eased late on Monday after Bush, for the third time, angrily demanded a troop withdrawal "without delay." Shortly after, the Israeli Army said it would start pulling out of two West Bank cities in a move the White House grudgingly called "a start." But heavy fighting flared again at the Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday. Powell, due in Jerusalem later this week, said he hoped the withdrawal from Qalqilya and Tulkarm in the central West Bank was the start of the wider disengagement. WIDER DISENGAGEMENT "Let us hope that this is not a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but the beginning of a pullback," Powell said in Morocco at the start of his Middle East mission. But even Tulkarm and Qalqilya were cut off from the outside world after Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers left. The Israeli Defense Ministry said a blockade around the two cities would be tightened. Oil prices, which had soared on Monday after Iraq announced a one-month halt in supplies to protest Israel's offensive, fell on news of the partial withdrawal. But Fleischer said the United States was keeping a variety of options on the table for responding to fluctuating oil prices and Bush told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Tuesday he was prepared to consider a range of options to ease the pain if Iraq's 30-day cutoff of oil exports made the problem of rising prices worse. He refused to rule out tapping the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve or seeking a reduction in gasoline taxes if necessary. The White House is concerned rising oil prices could damage the country's fragile economic recovery. Since last Thursday, Bush repeatedly has called on Israel to end its incursion into the West Bank and urged Arab leaders to use their influence to stop a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings that triggered the Israeli retaliation. The president's demands and his personal intervention in the issue after months of less-intense involvement have created what could be the most serious test of his international leadership since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. His full commitment to stopping the Israeli offensive, which has been portrayed by Sharon as a parallel to Bush's own war on terrorism, already had been questioned by many Arab states, which noted that Powell was not sent directly to Israel, but was going to three countries on the way. Until late on Monday, Sharon had shown no signs of acceding to Bush's demand to disengage. Arab leaders have yet to heed his call to denounce terrorism and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) has declined to disavow the suicide bombings in Arabic as Bush has requested. Washington has some leverage in the $3 billion in foreign aid granted to Israel every year. But the leverage is limited by Israel's strong political support in the United States. The White House said Tuesday Morocco's King Mohammed, who met Powell on Monday, would visit the White House to meet Bush and discuss the Middle East and bilateral issues.