Sharon to seek Bush help in thwarting future attacks

JERUSALEM -- Setting out for his fourth White House visit in a year, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon hopes to get U.S. help in isolating Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and thwarting what Israel sees as Iran's attempts to destabilize the Middle East.

Sharon's three-day visit centers on talks in Washington on Thursday with President Bush, who has sharply rebuked Arafat for not doing enough to rein in Palestinian militants.

In interviews last week, Sharon said he planned to ask Bush to go a step further and cut all contacts with Arafat -- a decision that would likely strengthen the prevalent view in the Arab world that the United States is siding with Israel.

Arafat aides complained of U.S. bias and said Bush is encouraging Israeli aggression against the Palestinians by inviting Sharon for the fourth time in a year; Bush has yet to meet with Arafat.

Resuming mediation

"I expect of President Bush that he will continue what his father started," Arafat said Wednesday, referring to the 1991 conference that launched Mideast peace talks.

Other Palestinian officials, meanwhile, said Washington is resuming mediation efforts despite two failed truce missions in December and January. CIA chief George Tenet will arrive in the region early next week, and the Palestinians said they expect him to try again to bring about a cease-fire.

Faced with U.S. criticism that they are not doing enough to prevent anti-Iraeli attacks, the Palestinians this week handed the United States a written account of their efforts to end 16 months of violence.

In a 17-page document obtained by The Associated Press, the Palestinian Authority said it has arrested 195 militants, shut down 79 suspect charities, blocked 56 bank accounts, closed 15 illegal munitions workshops and clamped down on militant mosque preachers in the seven weeks since Arafat declared a cease-fire.

Israeli officials said they have not seen real changes.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who is already in the United States, said Arafat is not a partner for negotiations. He asked U.S. officials to sidestep the Palestinian leader and hold talks with other Palestinian officials instead.

"I don't think there is any way to continue to work with Arafat as long as he is still putting himself in a position to be committed to the past and not to the future," Ben-Eliezer said Tuesday, after talks with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

In his toughest statement yet, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the Palestinian leader "must act decisively to confront the sources of terror and choose, once and for all, the option of peace over violence."

A U.S. envoy said Washington would continue to work with Arafat. On a visit to Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns said the United States was "frustrated by a failure to make the kind of maximum effort that we've called upon before. But we also recognize that there are obligations that the Israeli government has as well."