U.S. President George Bush continues to have no confidence in Yasser Arafat. Following the meeting yesterday between Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for over an hour in the White House - the sixth between them since Sharon took office in March of last year - Bush said, “The conditions [for a regional peace conference] are not even there yet. That’s because no one has confidence in the emerging Palestinian government.” Among the issues discussed were Syria’s support of the Hizbullah terrorist organization, and Sharon told the president that the thousands of Hizbullah missiles aimed at Israel from Lebanon were the \"biggest threat facing Israel today.” Also on the table, according to some reports, was imprisoned Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard, who who is into the 17th year of a prison sentence for having passed confidential US documents over to Israel, and Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Druze imprisoned in Egypt on espionage charges.
An Israeli official accompanying Sharon expressed satisfaction, saying, \"We got what we wanted on this trip.\" He also said that Arafat\'s name was barely mentioned during the discussion. When asked by reporters if Israel’s current military operation in Ramallah was harming White House peace efforts, Bush said that Israel has a right to defend herself. Sharon met afterwards with US Vice President Dick Cheney, and is scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair before returning to Israel tomorrow.
An Israeli official accompanying Sharon expressed satisfaction, saying, \"We got what we wanted on this trip.\" He also said that Arafat\'s name was barely mentioned during the discussion. When asked by reporters if Israel’s current military operation in Ramallah was harming White House peace efforts, Bush said that Israel has a right to defend herself. Sharon met afterwards with US Vice President Dick Cheney, and is scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Tony Blair before returning to Israel tomorrow.