Bush holds Arafat responsible for ending violence

President says he'll look to Canada if Congress blocks drilling in ANWR

President Bush on the state of Israeli-Palestinian relations: "Both sides must take important steps to calm the situation now."

By Ian Christopher McCaleb
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- President Bush issued a stern warning to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Thursday, saying he must convince his people "in a language they can understand" that all violence must end before peace with Israel will be possible.

Addressing reporters, Bush urged the Palestinians and Israelis to return to a situation of "normalcy" for the residents of the Palestinian territories.

But Bush placed the responsibility for ending the violence squarely on Arafat's shoulders, saying he alone must take responsibility for ending the 6-month-old Intifada that has claimed hundreds of lives, and prompted Israel to virtually blockade the Palestinians' most populated areas.

The United States, he added, would not act to impose peace conditions on the two parties, but would work only as a "facilitator" in concert with other interested nations, to help the Israelis and Palestinians reach their own conclusions.

"I am deeply concerned about the violence in the Middle East," Bush said. "Both sides must take important steps to calm the situation now."

Of the Palestinians, Bush said the Palestinian Authority must "speak out publicly and forcibly in a language that the Palestinian people can understand to condemn violence and terrorism."

Bush also called on Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to determine who was responsible for a variety of attacks, including a bombing at a bus stop Wednesday that claimed the lives of two Israeli teen-agers. They should be arrested, Bush said, and the Palestinians should immediately resume security cooperation with the government of Israel.

Arafat would hear the message repeated Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is scheduled to place a telephone call to the Palestinian Leader later in the day.

"I hope that Chairman Arafat hears it loud and clear," Bush said. "He's going to hear it again on the phone later today."

Israel reacted to the bus stop bombing and other recent attacks Wednesday night by rocketing buildings in Gaza and Ramallah, said to contain elements of Force 17, Arafat's elite guard unit, whom the Israelis have implicated in a variety of recent acts of violence.

Arafat, returning Thursday to the territories from the just-completed summit of Arab nations, said the uprising would continue despite the Israeli attacks on Palestinian targets.

The Palestinians have decried efforts by the Israeli army to seal the territories, disallowing tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens from working in other parts of Israel.

Bush said Thursday that Israel should takes immediate steps to restore normal living conditions to the Palestinians "by easing closures and removing checkpoints," and should exercise restraint as it moves to avenge terror acts.

Bush said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has assured him that Israel would like to move in that direction, and he would meet next week with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah the following week to devise a common strategy for soothing tensions in the region.

But, Bush said, that would be the extent of the American activities.

"Our goal is to encourage a series of reciprocal and parallel steps by both sides that will halt the escalation of violence," Bush said. "A lasting peace in the region will come only when the parties agree directly to its terms."

Queried about congressional reticence over his plan to open up some acreage in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve to oil exploration and possible drilling, Bush appeared prepared to back away from that plan if he had to.

The House passed its fiscal 2002 budget resolution Wednesday -- a document that closely resembled the budget blueprint submitted by the White House in February, save for one key area.

The House Budget Committee opted not to include revenue from potential ANWR oil leases in its long-range fiscal projections, as the Bush administration had done when it created its own budget framework.

House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, an Iowa Republican, said last week he did not want to see what was essentially an environmental and energy policy battle fought during budget deliberations.

Some observers have predicted that the House's move may make it even more difficult for Bush to persuade Congress that drilling in the ANWR is an expedient and necessary solution to ballooning energy costs. Democrats and environmental groups have criticized the administration on the idea, saying the ANWR is the last unspoiled bit of U.S. wilderness.

Oil and other fuels, most importantly natural gas, can be found elsewhere, Bush said Thursday.

"It would be helpful if we opened ANWR," Bush said. "But there are other areas of the United States in which we can find natural gas."

One alternative, Bush suggested, would be to open up Canadian gas reserves in the Northwest Territories to the United States.

"There's gas in our hemisphere," Bush said. "But if Congress decides not to have exploration in ANWR, we'll work with the Canadians. It doesn't matter to me where the gas comes from, just as long as we get a supply. The energy crisis is real in California, and looms for the rest of the country."

That energy crisis, Bush said, prompted him to declare this week that the United States would not adhere to the global Kyoto treaty on industrial emissions, and to decide not to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Both moves have raised eyebrows worldwide, but Bush said he would have no problem explaining his reasoning to world leaders.

"Ours is going to be an administration that makes decisions based on science," the president said. "Circumstances have changed since the (presidential) campaign -- we now have an energy crisis. We have an energy shortage."

"I will not accept a plan that will harm the economy and hurt American workers," he continued. "First things first are the people who live in America."

Bush urged the Senate to work as quickly as the House did to pass the budget resolution, saying rapid approval would be essential to providing immediate tax relief, which will result, in turn, in millions of dollars pumped back into a sagging economy.

The budget is scheduled to be considered in the Senate next week.

"I hope there is no delay in the Senate when it comes to budget consideration," Bush said. "We've got to get money back in people's pockets."

Asked about calls in the Senate for a stimulus package that would forward some $60 billion in tax rebates back to taxpayers this year, Bush said he believed immediate tax relief was a good idea, but stuck to his insistence that his original 10-year, $1.6 trillion plan must not be altered.

"I hope that the Congress does not diminish the size of the tax-relief package that I sent up there, or increase the size of the tax-relief package I sent up there," he said.

"It is in our nation's interest to have long-term tax relief," he said later.

Pressed by a reporter in the details of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance bill now wending its way through the Senate, Bush said he would be inclined to "sign a bill that improves the system."

He would not, however, comment on specific provisions of the bill as it is now written, saying he would examine the version that reaches his desk.

Bush also dismissed any talk of his supposed rivalry with John McCain, the Arizona Republican senator who gave Bush his toughest fight during last year's presidential primary season.

"That's what Washington is all about, trying to stir up tension between John McCain and me," he said.

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