U.S. questions Arafat's grip on militants

WASHINGTON -- Yasser Arafat has come back from exile and from U.S. rebuke as a terrorist to gain American recognition and a Nobel Peace Prize.

His failure to stop suicide bombers from killing Israelis, however, is causing the Bush administration to question his credentials as ultimate leader of the Palestinians.

He could be losing his grip, in the view of top American officials, as he approaches a last chance to crush Hamas and other Palestinian-based terror groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's declaration of war against terrorism Monday, and missile attacks on the West Bank and Gaza, are seen within the U.S. administration as a warning, not the start of all-out war with Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

Arafat still has a chance to rein in the terror groups, but it could be his last chance, a senior U.S. official told The Associated Press on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Engaged in its own struggle against international terror, the Bush administration decided after at least 26 Israelis were slain and hundreds injured by suicide bombers over the weekend that Palestinian terrorism will not get a free ride.

"Terrorism has got to stop," Philip Reeker, a State Department spokesman, said. "You can't pick and choose. And that's the message we are giving the Palestinians."

Similarly, Bush and his aides are endorsing Israel's right to defend itself, with limited qualification. Targeted assassinations of suspected terrorists, the latest of which occurred last Friday, still is considered beyond the pale.

Once the bombers struck in Jerusalem and Haifa, the United States abandoned its traditional evenhanded call for restraint and stopped imploring Israel not to provoke the Palestinians.

What has changed, the senior U.S. official said, was the depth of the violence committed against Israel and the U.S. commitment to punish terrorists and their supporters grounded in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

Powell assessment

Secretary of State Colin Powell will assess where things stand in a meeting Tuesday in Bucharest with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. They will be in the Romanian capital for a meeting of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe.

The big unanswered question as U.S. policy shifts is what the United States would do if Arafat fails to shut down Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, the two main terror groups in territory controlled by Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said, "What is lacking from U.S. policy right now is consequences for Arafat's refusal to fight terror."

In an interview Monday, Satloff said, "Time and again, administration officials have referred to Arafat's 'moment of truth,' without there being any repercussions for failing to meet the test."

Satloff said Bush should consider what his father did as president 11 years ago: suspend U.S. relations until Arafat acted against terrorism.

Richard Murphy, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state, said Arafat can do more to curb terrorist groups, although there are significant independent "wildcatters" within Islamic Jihad.