Bush's UN speech only encourages Israel: Palestinian official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 24, 2003

Bush's UN speech only encourages Israel: Palestinian official

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President Bush's perceived portrayal of Yasser Arafat Tuesday as a leader who has betrayed his people's cause will only spur Israel to hold a hardline against the Palestinians, a Palestinian official said.

In a U.N. address focused on Iraq Bush called on both Israel and the Palestinians to carry out commitments they made under a stalled U.S.-backed peace plan.

But in an apparent reference to Arafat -- whom the United States has sought to sideline -- Bush said the Palestinian cause was being "betrayed by leaders who cling to power by feeding old hatreds and destroying the good work of others."

"The Palestinian people deserve their own state and they will gain that state by embracing new leaders committed to reform, to fighting terror and to building peace," Bush said, echoing remarks he has made in the past.

Palestinian Labor Minister Ghassan Khatib called Bush's remarks unconstructive.

"It does not serve the cause of democracy when President Bush does not distinguish between a president who 'clings to power' through elections and one who does so by other methods," Khatib said. Palestinians elected Arafat president in 1996.

"The hatreds President Bush is speaking about are a result of the occupation and Israeli violence," he told Reuters.

"One of the bad things about such statements is that it encourages Israel to continue diminishing the rights of the Palestinian people and their leadership," Khatib added.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on Bush's speech.

The United States and Israel accuse Arafat of fomenting violence in a three-year-old Palestinian uprising for statehood, an allegation he denies.

After Palestinian suicide bombings killed 15 Israelis two weeks ago, Israel issued an open-ended threat to "remove" Arafat, and the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at blocking his possible expulsion.

Source: Agencies<>

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