Senate leaders: Cutting ties with Arafat possible

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Top U.S. lawmakers joined the Bush administration Sunday in voicing growing frustration with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat the same day another bombing attack rocked Jerusalem, leaving one Israeli dead and more than 100 others injured.

The Senate's top leaders said the United States should consider breaking off ties with Arafat. One went so far as to call him "irrelevant"

"This attack this morning is just one more instance that proves that there is no effective control of the terrorist attacks that are being launched against Israel," Vice President Dick Cheney said on "Fox News Sunday."

The Palestinian Authority leadership strongly condemned Sunday's bombing, which happened at the start of the workweek in a busy commercial area of west Jerusalem.

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Cheney blamed Arafat for buying arms from Hezbollah, a militant group on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, in an attempt to launch attacks against Israelis. The Israelis intercepted Karine-A, a ship containing arms, this month in the Red Sea.

"One of the most disturbing events recently has been the discovery of this Karine-A ship, a ship trying to move 50 tons of military equipment -- weapons, C-4 explosives, new extended-range rockets -- provided by Iran and apparently through Hezbollah to Palestine," Cheney said. "The only use for the C-4 is to make the suicide bombers more effective or kill more people when they detonate."

Arafat has denied involvement in the arms shipment. The ship captain's said that he worked for the Palestinian Authority and that the arms were to go to Palestinian Authority forces.

The Bush administration is considering several options, including an outright break of U.S. relations with the Palestinian Authority, sources said.

Democrats, GOP critical

"I believe all options ought to be on the table," Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said about the possibility of ending ties.

"I agree with that, and I think the administration is looking seriously at that question," said Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi. He and Daschle spoke Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Cheney said Arafat must make a "100 percent good-faith effort" to control suicide bombers if the peace process is to get back on track.

"So far he hasn't done that," Cheney said.

The Senate's top Democrat and Republican were both critical of Arafat.

"I don't think that anybody has any patience left for the way the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] has conducted itself," Daschle said. "We know now, because of the arms shipment, that there is a close association between all of that violence and what is happening within the ranks ... and the leadership of the PLO."

Lott said he is prepared to support the Bush administration if it decides to cut off ties with Arafat.

"The arms shipment clearly pointed out that Arafat is not living up to his agreements," he said. "[The administration] may actually decide they've got to move beyond him. He has become irrelevant, not to mention irresponsible in his conduct."