Washington Watch

Words
That Harm

Suha Arafat's tirade
against Israel continues
to wreak havoc in the
corridors of power.

The Wackier Family
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Happy C anukatt

JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent

dministration officials are fuming
A
about what they say is continuing
anti-Israel incitement by the

Palestinians, despite recent progress in
the Middle East peace process and the
start of make-or-break final-status
negotiations.
Administration angst was sparked
by Suha Arafat's tirade last month in
which she accused Israel of using poi-
son gas against West Bank
Palestinians. But that's just the tip of a
very large iceberg, U.S. officials say.
Just below the surface: neo-Nazi
outbursts in the Palestinian press and
virulently anti-Israel, anti-Semitic ide-
ology in Palestinian textbooks — a
stark contrast to the civil mood of the
final-status talks.
The continuing pattern of invective
could wreck those negotiations —
which will take up such explosive
issues as Jerusalem, refugees, water,
Palestinian statehood and settlements
— before they produce the "frame-
work" agreement that Israel wants to
complete by February.
At first, the administration muted
its public response to Mrs. Arafat's
statements, which came in a dramatic
meeting with First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton in Rarnallah that
detonated in the middle of Mrs.
Clinton's Senate campaign. But the
level of criticism mounted as U.S. offi-
cials became convinced Palestinian
leaders — starting with Mrs. Arafat's
husband, Yasser — were unwilling to
unequivocally repudiate her views or
take steps against other examples of
incitement.
Late last week, State Department
spokesman James Rubin was unusually
blunt in condemning Mrs. Arafat's
comments. "The continued repetition
of baseless charges, charges without
foundation that only serve to provoke
the situation, that are outrageous and
inflammatory, has no place in the
public discourse between Israelis and
Palestinians," he said, adding that such

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