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Wednesday, March 21, 2001

"We'll do everything we can to help calm nerves and encourage there to be dialogue," Bush said in an appearance with Sharon in the Oval Office.

Bush said his administration would try "to create an environment in which peace can flourish" in the Middle East. But he stopped short of outlining any new U.S. peace initiative.

"I told him that our nation will not try to force peace," Bush said. "That we will facilitate peace and that we will work with those responsible for peace."

Bush on Monday called Jordan's King Abdullah, who is scheduled to visit the White House in early April, along with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The White House has not issued an invitation to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and when asked, administration officials did not have a likely date for a Bush-Arafat meeting.

Bush sidestepped questions about a possible meeting with Arafat, saying only that he would continue to consult with all leaders in the region.

Bush and Sharon's talk was the first time the two leaders met face-to-face since they assumed office in recent months. In the meantime, violence in the Middle East escalated in the wake of failed peace negotiations by former President Bill Clinton and ousted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

White House officials say Bush is holding off on becoming involved in the region until a new peace "process" is outlined by Sharon, who is calling for a halt in the fighting before any negotiations take place.

"The first thing, and the most important one, is to bring security to the citizens of Israel," Sharon said. "Once we reach security and it will be calm in the Middle East, I believe that we'll start with our negotiations to reach a peace agreement."

At appearances Monday elsewhere in Washington, Sharon made an impassioned defense of his government's practice of restricting access to Palestinian-controlled areas, just days after Israel liberalized its roadblock and checkpoint policies.

"Just last week we received an intelligence report warning that Yasser Arafat's own bodyguards, known as 417, were planning a car bomb attack inside Jerusalem. Many Israeli lives were at stake," Sharon said at the annual conference of American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a group that has launched this month a full-court press for the Bush administration to weaken if not cut ties with Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

"The 417 unit was located in Palestinian-controlled Ramallah. But Arafat was not prepared to stop this threat against Israel."

Sharon's statements mark a clear departure from U.S. policy that has until now only urged Arafat to condemn and control the violence, but has stopped short of saying Arafat's own men are terrorists.

In Sharon's talks Monday afternoon with Secretary of State Colin Powell, both sides continued to disagree on the wisdom of Israel's crackdown on Palestinian territories within Israel.

Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

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