U.S. says unclear on Israeli objectives for Ramallah raid

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres revealed Thursday that the U.S. is shaping a new diplomatic initiative in which the Palestinians will have to waive the right of return in exchange for Israel's evacuation of all the settlements.

"There is something new emerging in the U.S., which says that the Palestinians will give up on the right of return in exchange for Israel giving up on all the settlements."

Peres reiterated his view that even if it will take time to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, Israel should not wait to reengage the Palestinians in negotiations. A renewal of the political process, Peres added, would help to solve many of the problems besetting the Israeli economy.
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Bush to announce new strategy after Sharon, Mubarak meetings

That said, Bush is in no hurry to adopt his State Department's plan, which was drawn up by a member of the National Security Council. According to this proposal, Israel would agree to evacuate the settlements, while the Palestinians would waive their demand for the right of return for refugees.

The plan proposes a three-year process, at the end of which the sides ould reach a permanent agreement accompanied by "serious reforms" within the Palestinian Authority. Sharon has expressed his reservations about the plan, and Bush is not keen to go up against the prime minister.

A senior official, during a White House press briefing, made light of reports of a future U.S. plan. "I'm not sure where those reports came from," he said, "but I'd be happy to find out."

Bush is also busy helping his brother Jeb Bush win his election in Florida. With so many Jewish votes in that state, Bush is not likely to do anything that would alienate Jewish voters, who are showing increasing support for the Republicans, by going head-to-head with Ariel Sharon.
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The State Department seems to have a grasp on the situation but the future of peace in the mideast will more likely be sacrificed by Bush to get his brother reelected. Can this get more depressing? Unfortunately, I'm sure it can.

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Militant's Claim that Arafat Can't End Attacks

If there is one thing that the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad does not fear, one of its leaders said today, it is the repressive force of Yasir Arafat and his Palestinian Authority.

"The Palestinian Authority is broken; its institutions are destroyed," the leader, Sheik Abdallah al-Shami, said calmly as he sat in the living room of his home here. "How can the Palestinian Authority assure the security of the Israelis when it cannot even protect its own people?"
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thanks to Cursor

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Israelis debate expelling Arafat

The unrelenting wave of terror attacks is causing a growing clamor in Israel for the expulsion of Yasser Arafat, but key security advisers caution against such a gambit and officials say it's not on the agenda for now.

The idea was the talk of the street Thursday, a day after a Palestinian suicide bombing killed 17 Israelis on a bus.

Arafat condemned and disavowed the attack, but his words fell on deaf ears among Israelis after 20 months of violence in which many suicide bombings and other attacks came from groups associated with the Palestinian leader.

"Don't fear expelling Arafat," wrote the mass-circulation Maariv daily in an unprecedented editorial, and a front- page commentary by respected analyst Zeev Schiff in the liberal Haaretz daily predicted the idea would receive renewed government consideration.
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This seems to be another case demonstrating the Israeli's amazing ability to delude themselves. (An ability also demonstrated in this country.) They somehow seem to believe that all their problems are caused by Arafat and that the realities of their brutal occupation have nothing to do with the increase in terror. Who will they blame if Arafat is removed and the terror continues?