White House says Arafat is key to peace

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Under mounting international pressure to soften its hard line against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the White House Monday intentionally elevated Arafat's role as a potential peacemaker and rejected Israel's attempt to brand him as an enemy of the state.

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"The president does believe that the path to peace does go through Chairman Arafat," said White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.

"He believes -- as I indicated just moments ago -- that Chairman Arafat continues to speak with the authority of the Palestinian people, that Chairman Arafat has the means and the ability to reduce the violence, and that Chairman Arafat also has the ability to enter into fruitful, productive peace talks with Israel," Fleischer said.

In another significant development, the White House declared that President Bush's doctrine on global terror -- that any nation or group that harbors a terrorist will be regarded as a terrorist and potentially subject to U.S. reprisals -- does not apply to the Palestinian Authority.

When asked why Arafat, whom he has repeatedly said could do more to stop terror against Israel, does not qualify as a terrorist under the Bush Doctrine, the president said:

"Chairman Arafat has agreed to a peace process. He's agreed to the Tenet [security] plan. He's agreed to the Mitchell plan. He has negotiated with parties as to how to achieve peace."

Fleischer added further context, rejecting the Israeli contention that Arafat is no different from the Taliban or al Qaeda.

The situation in the Middle East is indeed different," Fleischer said. "What makes it different is the fact that you have parties who themselves have agreed together to the Tenet accords, to the Mitchell [peace] accords, which all follows the Oslo peace process.

"That was not, is not the case with al Qaeda. And I understand you want to compare them, but that's not a comparison that the president accepts."

Taken together, the administration pronouncements constituted a decided shift in tone from Bush's remarks Saturday in reaction to suicide bombing attacks.

After conferring with top aides, the president declared that Palestinian-backed terrorism was the proximate cause of the Middle East crisis.

"I think Chairman Arafat can do a lot more," Bush told reporters near his Texas ranch.

"I believe he needs to stand up and condemn -- in Arabic -- these attacks. We've been dealing with the leaders of the security apparatus. And they have got to do a much better job of preventing people from coming into Israel to blow up innocent people," he said.

The president summoned two key policy-making groups for intense discussions on Middle East policy that lasted more than two hours, according to senior administration officials.

The first was the National Security Council and the second was what top advisers referred to as a "principals" meeting that involved the highest-power members of the National Security Team and Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

Among the issues discussed were the level of U.S. involvement in the region and ways in which nations in Europe and the Middle East could assist in reducing the violence between the Israelis and Palestinians.

The administration took pains Monday to distance itself from Israel's military assaults on Ramallah and other Palestinian cities.

While Bush repeated past statements that Israel was justified in defending itself, he placed far more emphasis on the need for Israel to show restraint and seek other means of achieving peace than continuous military action against Arafat and the Palestinians.

"I think it's very important for the prime minister to keep a pathway to peace open, to understand that on the one hand Israel should protect herself, and on the other hand there ought to be a pathway, the capacity to achieve a peaceful resolution to this issue," Bush said. "It's important for Israel to understand that."

Senior administration officials have expressed no confidence that Israel's current military operations would achieve the stated aims of "dismantling" the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure, and Bush pointedly avoided characterizing Israel's military activities as designed the achieve that goal. The White House said the Israeli military is merely carrying out actions in "self-defense."

That characterization gives the administration greater flexibility to lobby Israel over time to end the military incursions, because it would not undercut its declaration that dismantling terror groups is a legitimate endeavor for any nation victimized by terror.

Which makes the declaration that the Bush Doctrine on terror out-of-bounds in the Middle East so important.

By declaring Arafat a key negotiating partner and someone who has been, in Fleischer's words, "undermined" by terrorist attacks in Israel, the White House is rejecting Israel's claim that it cannot deal with Arafat because he foments terror.

Senior officials deny a shift in policy but do not deny a decided shift in emphasis and verbal nuance.

"The plight of the Palestinians has always been on the president's mind and a part of his statements," said White House communications director Dan Bartlett.

"But sometimes when we state our case not all of it gets out. So we reorder the priorities to make sure our entire policy and positions get out there."