Disagreement Over Arafat's Fate

U.N., European and Russian leaders split sharply with the Bush administration Tuesday over the future of Yasser Arafat, insisting that the Palestinian leader legitimately heads his people's statehood movement.

During two hours of high-level talks in New York, the leaders said they also told Secretary of State Colin Powell that headway must be made, not just in curbing violence but in settling the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Just hours before the meeting, in an elaborate ambush, Palestinians disguised as Israeli soldiers set off a bomb to stop a bus near a West Bank Jewish settlement and then fired on its passengers as they scrambled to escape. Seven people were killed and 14 wounded. Among the wounded were a 2-year-old, two 12-year-olds and a pregnant woman, Israel TV said. The pregnant woman was shot in the head, said Ron Nachman, mayor of nearby Ariel.

The diverse views expressed at the New York talks overshadowed a uniform concern for the plight of the Palestinian people. Powell, U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and European Union diplomat Javier Solana agreed that ways must be found to get more help to the Palestinians.

But even on that issue, there was evident discord.

President Bush, in demanding Arafat's ouster, has accused the Palestinian Authority of corruption, and U.S. aid is distributed to circumvent that body.

By contrast, European governments and other donors submit some of their assistance to the Palestinian leadership. Solana, angry over allegations that money is skimmed off, told a joint news conference that no international aid program functions more effectively.

Underscoring the Bush administration's determination to end Palestinian attacks on Israel, Powell said, "Everything begins with creating a better sense of security."

But Annan said, "We need to show progress on the other fronts." Without such progress, Annan said, it will be difficult to curb violence.

Ivanov defended Arafat's leadership role, calling him the elected leader of the Palestinians. And Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, whose government currently holds the presidency of the European Union, said Arafat's election as the Palestinian leader requires dealing with him.

While Mr. Bush has urged Arafat's removal, Powell in two recent interviews has spoken favorably of some sort of role for the Palestinian leader. Asked to elaborate, Powell declined, saying, "Our concern right now is not about individuals but about the people."

Several militant groups rushed to claim responsibility for Tuesday's West Bank attack, which was a near replica of one on Dec. 12 that killed 11 people in the same place - at the entrance to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlement of Emmanuel, between the towns of Qalqilya and Nablus.

Witnesses said three gunmen, dressed as Israeli soldiers, set off a roadside bomb that brought the bulletproof bus to a halt. As passengers stumbled out, they raked them and the vehicle with gunfire. The entire right side of the bus was pockmarked by bullets.

The militants fled and were pursued by army helicopters.

Rachel Gross, a 17-year-old high school student, said the bus lurched into the air when the bomb went off. "I got down under the seats, as fast as I could, because the terrorists began firing bursts and throwing grenades, it went on and on it seemed like eternity," she said while visiting the wounded at a hospital. She was not hurt.

Gross said that when she got up, she saw an unexploded grenade on the seat in front of her. The doors of the bus were jammed shut, she said, and rescue workers came in through the windows.

Taxi driver Yitzhak Yazdi said he heard the explosion and saw stones flying over the road as he neared the scene, plumes of smoke billowing 30 feet high. "I saw two terrorists who were running away from the road and they hid behind a rock," he said.

In more than 21 months of fighting, 1,758 people have been killed on the Palestinian side, and 572 on the Israeli side, including those who died in Tuesday's attack.

The most recent fatal attack on Israeli civilians occurred June 20, when a gunman killed five Israelis in the Jewish settlement of Itamar, near Nablus in the northern West Bank.

The lull in attacks was widely seen in Israel as evidence that the policy of reoccupying the Palestinian Authority's autonomous zones was the best method for preventing attacks on Israelis.

"If we had not been there, we would have had 12, or 10 attacks rather than one," said Ranaan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

He said that until the Palestinians unify their security services and use them to "eradicate terrorism ... we will have to be deployed in those areas where we are in order to stop this wave of terrorist activity."

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told Israel TV that he canceled a meeting set for Wednesday with senior Palestinian officials because of the attack.

The military wing of Hamas, Izzadine al-Qassam, claimed responsibility in two telephone calls to The Associated Press in Jerusalem, saying the militants responsible were safe in the Nablus area.

However, two other groups also claimed responsibility: the Syria-based Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said it carried out the attack; and Abu Dhabi TV in the United Arab Emirates said the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, affiliated with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said the same.

It was considered unlikely that Israel would stage a military retaliation in response to the attack during the talks in New York.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack in a statement. The Palestinians frequently condemn suicide attacks inside Israel - but not those in the West Bank and Gaza, arguing that Palestinians have a legitimate right to resist Israeli occupation.

President Bush also condemned the attack, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "This underscores the importance of focusing on peace and working with leaders in the Palestinian Authority who are dedicated to peace," he said - an apparent reference to the U.S. position that it won't deal with Arafat anymore.

Annan deplored the attack. At the same time, he used the incident to renew his support for a Palestinian state and for Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

President Bush will meet on Thursday in Washington with Maher, Muasher and the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud al-Faisal, and Powell is likely to do the same.

On Aug. 1, King Abdullah of Jordan will visit Washington to meet with Mr. Bush.