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State Department official criticizes Arafat and the Palestinian uprising
WASHINGTON – The Palestinian intifada, or uprising, on the West Bank has turned into "an ongoing campaign of terror," damaging Yasser Arafat's image with many Israelis who support a peaceful settlement, a senior State Department official said Friday.
The Palestinian leader's peacemaking in the early 1990s transformed how Israelis saw him, from terrorist to peace partner, said David Satterfield, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Near East.
But now "the intifada has transformed him back to that negative image," Satterfield said at the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine.
He called on Arafat to confront Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, all branded as murderous terrorist groups by the State Department. "It is in Chairman Arafat's fundamental interest to confront those elements," Satterfield said.
Satterfield also criticized Israel's use of force, but he found himself and U.S. policy in the Middle East under attack from many in the audience.
Derisive laughter erupted when he said the Bush administration had not decided whether or not Israel was using U.S. weapons illegally against Palestinians. Several conference participants faulted Satterfield for not describing Israel as an occupier of Palestinian lands and for not saying the United States should take charge of the longtime dispute.
"The leadership must come from them," Satterfield said. "We cannot replace them."
A former White House official and recent U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Satterfield said the Middle East was in crisis, in a "very terrible, very threatening situation."
Loss of hope, trust and confidence on both sides is far worse than the loss of life in the 13-month conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, he said.
Leaders on both sides lack will and courage, and the United States cannot stand in for them, Satterfield said.
"There really is no alternative but to reach out to each other," he said.
APNP-11-02-01 1023CST