Washington Watch

The `Coalition'

Arab visitors to D.C. keep the debate
going on the anti-terror coalition.

JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondenz-

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parade of Arab and Muslim
leaders is passing through
Washington, promising
support for the U.S.-led
effort against terrorist kingpin Osama
bin Laden, but also urging the admin-
istration to press harder for a Middle
East cease-fire and new negotiations
between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Bush administration was appar-
ently headed in that direction even
before the Sept. 11 terror bombings; on
Tuesday, there were reports that Secretary
of State Colin Powell was preparing a
major new U.S. initiative to end the con-
flict, but that its debut was postponed by
the sudden shift in U.S. priorities.
The effort to link the two crises is
being resisted by American Jewish
leaders and by the Israeli government.
But they face a rough challenge; the
anti-terror war has become the all-con-
suming preoccupation of U.S. policy-
makers, while the Arab-Israeli conflict
has receded to the background.
Last week, Jordan's King Abdullah II
was in town for the official signing of

resident George W. Bush this
week gave a conditional okay
to statehood for the
Palestinians, eventually. But he
stressed that it would have to come
about through negotiations between
the Palestinians and Israel and that it
would have to assure respect for
Israel's right to exist.
Bush's comments came in the wake
of a trial balloon floated by the State
Department in stories in the New
York Times and the Washington Post.
The newspapers reported that the
administration had been planning a
new initiative to promote peace in
the Middle East, including a speech
by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
holding out the possibility of recog-
nition of Palestinian statehood.
But the plan, which included a
meeting between Bush and
Palestinian Authority leader Yasser

a new U.S.-Jordan free trade pact and
to offer a combination of support and
advice for the U.S. anti-terror effort.
"We're here to give our full,
unequivocal support to you and to the
people of America," the monarch said.
"And we will stand by you in these
very difficult times."
Washington sources say Jordan has
already started sharing intelligence
with U.S. officials on terror groups
and their worldwide connections.
But Abdullah also told State
Department officials that there is a
direct connection between the extent
of Jordan's cooperation and the con-
tinuation of U.S. efforts to bring
about a lasting Israeli-Palestinian
cease-fire. Unless Washington pushes
hard for new negotiations, he warned,
it will be more difficult to bring Arab
and Moslem nations into the anti-ter-
ror coalition.
State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher, stressing strong
Jordanian support for the U.S. effort,
conceded that the administration rec-
ognizes "what the king and others have
told us, that (the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict) has a bearing on ... how we go

Arafat at the United Nations

General Assembly meeting in New
York, was thrown off track by the
Sept. 1 terrorist attacks.
Bush told reporters Tuesday that
"the idea of a Palestinian state has
always been part of a vision, so long
as the right of Israel to exist is
respected."
He said that the first step forward
should be cease-fire recommended
by the international committee
headed by former Senator George J.
Mitchell, followed by confidence-
building measures and a resumption
of peace talks. "First things first,"
Bush said.
Palestinian officials welcomed
Bush's comments, which marked the
first time a Republican administra-
tion has explicitly endorsed state-
hood for them. But Israeli officials
said the remarks represented only an

