Bush considers punitive actions against Palestinian authority

AP Diplomatic WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush and his foreign policy advisers, convinced that Yasser Arafat's organization tried to buy weapons from Iran, met Friday to consider punitive actions that could include severing ties with the Palestinian Authority.

But Secretary of State Colin Powell and other State Department officials were counseling a different approach. According to a well-placed U.S. official, it would demand Arafat guarantee tough action against terrorism and then the administration would resume its peacemaking efforts.

Arrayed against this view, and pushing for a cutoff, were Vice President Dick Cheney's office and Pentagon staffers, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Congress also appeared to be divided on what to do next.

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., said he would push legislation to close the Palestinian office in Washington and ban U.S. financial support for the Palestinian Authority. Bush would have the option of using national security grounds to maintain relations.

Sen. Charles Hagel, R-Neb., on the other hand, questioned cutting off relations. "What is the alternative?," he said. "Who then do you deal with?"

In the private White House session, Bush and his national security team discussed various options, including closing the Palestinian office in Washington, having U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni suspend his peacemaking mission and placing Arafat's personal security force on the State Department's list of terrorist groups, according to several government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Zinni was expected to resume his attempt to rebuild a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians in a third trip to the region last week. But the mission was sidetracked by the violence, and there is no word on when he might go back -- despite reports that Arafat asked Powell to send him back.

Cutting ties with Arafat could greatly complicate Bush's fragile war coalition by angering Muslims and driving a wedge between the United States and its Arab allies. It also would make it tougher for U.S. diplomats, dealing with only one party in the dispute, to ease Middle East tensions.

For those reasons, severing ties was the least likely option to be accepted by Bush, said a senior administration official involved in the discussions. The official said Bush's team agrees that action needs to be taken against Arafat, but the advisers are split over how serious the steps should be.

It was unclear whether Bush would make a decision Friday. One source said the action may be postponed, giving Arafat one more chance to avoid punishment.

The advisers' meeting comes after Bush sent proof to three key Arab leaders that the Palestinian Authority was engaged in a weapons smuggling plot and asked them to put pressure on Arafat to make arrests, senior administration officials said.

Israeli commandos early this month intercepted a ship carrying the 50 tons of rockets, mortars, explosives and other arms in the Red Sea and informed the Bush administration.

Most of the evidence Bush included in his letters last week to Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan was gathered by U.S. intelligence, diplomatic sources said Thursday.

That underscored the Bush administration's conviction that Arafat's Palestinian Authority was involved. Arafat himself has denied any role and the Bush administration has hesitated to contradict him directly.

But Israeli security officials say it was impossible for senior Palestinian Authority members to be involved in the plot first hatched in June without Arafat's personal awareness.

They also said the weapons, if delivered to Palestinian militants, could have been used against Israel's Ben-Gurion airport and especially to pierce the reinforced surface of buses that carry tourists and Israeli civilians.

Assistant Secretary of State William Burns called in ambassadors from two dozen Arab countries for a briefing Friday at the State Department. It is part of an administration campaign to rally the Arab world against terrorism and to compel Arafat to curb Palestinian attacks on Israel.

The Palestinian Authority, under U.S. urging, has detained several suspects. But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher repeated on Thursday that Arafat had neither provided a satisfactory explanation of the smuggling nor arrested the key figures.

According to Israeli security officials, the weapons were supplied by Iran and loaded on the ship there with the help of Hezbollah, a guerrilla group that is fighting a low-level cross-border war with Israel from southern Lebanon.

Bush plans to meet Feb. 7 with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who will be making his fourth visit to the White House to see Bush since March. Arafat has never been invited.