Visiting Leader Abbas Is Praised as 'a Man of Courage'
By Peter Baker and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 27, 2005
President Bush offered an unstinting vote of confidence and $50 million in direct aid to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas yesterday in an attempt to bolster his newly elected government and reinvigorate the Middle East peace process.
Signaling a new era of relations, the president welcomed Abbas to the White House for the first time since his January election as president of the Palestinian Authority. Bush never extended such an invitation to Abbas's predecessor, Yasser Arafat, who died in November after years of estrangement from the U.S. administration.
Israeli leaders had hoped Bush would pressure Abbas to do more to dismantle militant groups, but the president publicly voiced nothing but praise for the Palestinian leader. Calling Abbas "a man of courage," Bush endorsed his efforts to reform Palestinian institutions and agreed with his demands that Israel halt settlement expansion in the West Bank.
The money infusion represents the largest direct financial boost to the Palestinians during Bush's presidency. Bush also announced he will dispatch Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for her first extended trip to the region as America's top diplomat.
"We will stand with you, Mr. President, as you combat corruption, reform the Palestinian security services and your justice system, and revive your economy," Bush told Abbas in a joint appearance in the Rose Garden. "Mr. President, you have made a new start on a difficult journey, requiring courage and leadership each day -- and we will take that journey together."
Still, Bush did not give Abbas written commitments in the form of a letter, as he previously gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and as some Palestinians had wanted. By the time Abbas showed up for his Oval Office session with Bush, it had become clear the president would not offer a letter, and a White House aide said Abbas did not even raise the matter.
The warm embrace of Abbas came in sharp contrast to Bush's open animosity toward Arafat, and the president seemed eager to bolster the new Palestinian leader in the face of Israeli criticism and Palestinian discontent. U.S. officials regard his success as the best chance to break through the logjam of decades of Israeli-Palestinian hatred and conflict.
"Now is the time for all parties of this conflict to move beyond old grievances and act forcefully in the cause of peace," Bush said.
"Time is becoming our greatest enemy," Abbas said. "We should end this conflict before it is too late."
Advisers to Abbas said they were thrilled with the meeting. "The Palestinians were not only pleased but surprised at how it went," said Edward G. Abington Jr., a former State Department official who is a consultant to the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinians believed that the chemistry between Bush and Abbas was "very, very good" and that Bush was direct and explicit in his goals. Moreover, the $50 million in aid was seen as "a vote of confidence" in Abbas's reform of the Palestinian Authority, Abington said.
Palestinian officials felt that some of Bush's language was much more explicit in telling the Israelis that Sharon's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in August will not mean the end of the process. Bush, for instance, noted that he is sending Rice to the region before the disengagement to discuss "the way back on the road map," the administration's long-stalled peace plan. Rice will travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah probably next month, the State Department said.
The $50 million financial package, drawn from unspent fiscal 2005 funds, amounted to the most tangible sign of Bush's support. It was negotiated up until Wednesday night with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) and other congressional Republicans who have objected to direct aid to the Palestinians.
Instead of steering the money to nongovernmental organizations or using it to pay Palestinian debts to Israel, the United States will deposit the funds in a special account managed by Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, who has been praised for building a transparent operation. With U.S. oversight, the money is to be used to build housing, schools, roads, water facilities and health clinics in Gaza to help ease the transition as Israelis withdraw.
Abbas spent much of the private meeting with Bush airing his grievances about the security wall that Israel is building around Palestinian communities, a White House aide said. Abbas, the aide said, also explained that the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas -- listed as a terrorist group by the United States -- is gaining popularity in advance of July 17 parliamentary elections because of the government's difficulty meeting high expectations for change after the January presidential election.
Bush did not press Abbas harder on dismantling terrorist groups, the aide said, because the president's envoy, Gen. William E. Ward, gave a positive assessment of the Palestinians' efforts to stem violence. Asked during the public appearance if he is satisfied that Abbas has done enough to combat terrorism, Bush answered instead with a testimonial to Palestinian democracy. Yet he did say in his opening statement that "only the defeat of violence will lead to sovereignty."
Bush stressed that the Israeli barrier "must be a security rather than political barrier" and must minimize its impact on Palestinian civilians. Abbas, on the other hand, denounced it as "illegitimate."
Addressing Bush's focus on democracy and freedom, Abbas said that "democracy is like a coin" and that "on the other side of the coin is freedom." Under continued Israeli occupation, he said, "we lack freedom" and this "will weaken the democratic march."
Israeli officials, who days earlier had privately dismissed Abbas as a weak and vacillating leader, appeared somewhat surprised by Bush's strong endorsement. But one Israeli official said Bush's praise for Abbas still left in place the fundamentals of the understanding between Sharon and Bush. In the Israeli view, Bush has not wavered from the idea that militant groups must be disarmed and, in Bush's words, "held to account."
In the diplomacy of the Middle East, in which every word carries meaning, both Israelis and Palestinians were struck by two new formulations offered by Bush.
Bush warned Israel not to undertake activity that would "prejudice final-status negotiations with regard to Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem." The inclusion of Jerusalem in that standard formulation raised eyebrows in the Israeli capital and cheered Palestinians, because it suggested the White House supports the Palestinian view that Israeli construction is designed to cut off East Jerusalem -- the future capital of Palestine -- from the rest of the West Bank.
At another point, Bush said, "Changes to the 1949 armistice lines must be mutually agreed to." The language stood in contrast to Bush's commitments to Sharon a year ago that Israel might expect to keep large settlements in a final peace deal. U.S. officials have always said a final peace deal must be reached through negotiations, but Palestinians said Bush's language represented a counterbalance to the commitments made to Sharon.