Full honors for Sharon at Pentagon

Sharon, accompanied by Army Col. Thomas Jordan, inspects troops during an armed forces full honor cordon in his honor Monday

Israeli PM will try to sell Bush on restrictions, interim peace deals

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld greeted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with full honors on Monday as the former Israeli general arrived at the Pentagon.

Sharon was to meet with Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice later in the day and President George W. Bush on Tuesday.

The Israeli leader met with CIA Director George Tenet before traveling to the Pentagon.

With no end in sight to the violence that has plagued the Middle East for decades -- and after 20 years of being viewed by some in the U.S. government as an obstacle to ending the conflict -- Sharon arrived in Washington on Sunday to present his case to the new U.S. administration.

VIDEO CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports on the U.S. visit of Israeli Prime Minister Sharon Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     AUDIO Sharon is confident that Bush agrees there should be no talks while violence continues 463K/43 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    TIMELINES Recent acts of violence in the Middle East:  • Bombings  • Activist deaths    RESOURCES Timeline gallery: Israeli leader Ariel Sharon

The hard-line Sharon, who trounced then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak in a February election, will likely seek to convince Bush, who stepped into the White House in January, that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is a key element of Mideast instability.

"He (Arafat) is a partner of Saddam Hussein. He's a partner of the Hamas extremists. He's a partner of the Islamic Jihad. He is a partner of the Taleban," said Israeli Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau. "They all want to destroy Israel, and they all want to harm the interests of the United States."

The Palestinians reject that characterization and say that it is Sharon who is the cause of the Mideast problems, dating back to his days as an Israeli general. In those days, the Palestinians say, Sharon's agenda was a military one, but now he is operating on the battlefield of public opinion.

"The Palestinians are expecting the new administration in Washington to take seriously the threats of the Sharon agenda," said Mahdi Abdel Hadi, director of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs in Jerusalem.

International criticism of Sharon has been on the rise due to the tight siege of Palestinian towns -- restrictions that are having a potentially devastating economic effect.

Sharon announced last week that he would lift some of those restrictions -- but warned that the pressure would be reinstated if violence does not further taper off. And he has refused to negotiate with the Palestinians unless the violence ends.

Further, Sharon wants a series of interim peace deals based on a non-belligerence accord rather than an all-embracing, conclusive peace deal sought by Barak and Bush's predecessor, Bill Clinton.

Since the latest round of violence began on September 28 -- following Sharon's visit to a disputed shrine in East Jerusalem -- more than 400 people have been killed. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reports that nearly 390 of those were Palestinians, while Israeli authorities say 67 were Israeli Jews and 13 were Israeli Arabs.

As Sharon prepared for his meetings in Washington, a Jewish settler in the West Bank town of Bethlehem died after his car was strafed by gunfire and crashed into a truck.

Israeli authorities reacted to the attack by imposing travel restrictions on Bethlehem after saying they had eased them last week as part of a Sharon policy to lift closures in areas that have quelled the violence.

CNN Correspondent Jerrold Kessel contributed to this report.

Sharon in U.S. for talks with Bush
March 19, 2001
Sharon seeks Bush approval for measured moves with Palestinians
March 18, 2001
Sharon prepares for U.S. visit
March 17, 2001
Palestinians press for U.N. security force
March 16, 2001

Palestinian National Authority
Israeli Prime Minister's Office

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