Arafat asks for chance to stop terrorists

By Kelly Wallace
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat appealed to President Bush in a letter delivered by the Norwegian prime minister Wednesday to give him "a chance" to find and arrest suspected terrorists.

"I had a message from Chairman Arafat and the main message was, 'Give me a chance,'" said Kjell Magne Bondevik, prime minister of Norway, following his Oval Office meeting with Bush.

"He urged for international pressure on [Israeli] Prime Minister [Ariel] Sharon to end the attacks," said Bondevik.

Bondevik, who said he spoke to Arafat and Sharon earlier Wednesday, said he pressed Sharon to give Arafat time to act.

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"I urged Prime Minister Sharon to end attacks on Palestinian targets, to give Arafat a chance, to test him so he can deliver what he has promised," said Bondevik. "And the president and I also agreed on this matter."

"We both want to give him a chance to show this and then it's also necessary and important the Israelis now end their attacks so we can give peace a new chance," he said.

Israel carried out attacks on Palestinian targets Monday and Tuesday in response to last weekend's suicide bombings that killed 25 Israelis. People saying they were members of Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombings.

When asked whether Bush, who has said nothing about Israel's actions, agreed with him, Bondevik said, "I will not give a statement on behalf of the president, but my impression was that we share the views on the main lines for the Middle East situation."

A senior administration official said later the United States had not changed its position, which is that Israel has a right to defend itself but must realize there are repercussions to its actions.

"The onus in on Arafat to act," said the senior official. "He has shown he has been able to act in the past. We are calling on him to do so again."

When asked Bush's reaction to Arafat's letter, Bondevik said the president "realized the difficulties of Chairman Arafat for the time being, but he also urged Arafat to show leadership now, to deliver what he's promising."

Before his Oval Office meeting with Bondevik, Bush again said now is the time for Arafat to take action and crack down on suspected terrorists.

"Mr. Arafat must show leadership and bring those to justice who would use murder as a weapon to derail peace and to destroy innocent life," said Bush.

"He must show leadership. Now is his time. And other nations around the world that are interested in peace must encourage Mr. Arafat, must insist that Mr. Arafat use everything in his power to prevent further terrorist attacks in Israel."

Bondevik said he urged Arafat and Sharon to "avoid further escalation of violence." The Norwegian leader said he pressed Arafat to show "leadership" and arrest terrorists.

"He told me he had arrested the leadership of Hamas and [Islamic] Jihad, that he was in a difficult situation," said Bondevik.

The Palestinian Authority says it has rounded up about 170 suspects since the weekend terrorist attacks in Israel. However, the Sharon government maintains that those detainees are low- and mid-level operatives of groups targeting Israel and says that the groups' leaderships still must be arrested.

Bondevik said Sharon told him he had "no intention" of attacking more Palestinian targets.

"And for the last 26 hours there has been no attack," said the Norwegian leader.