The difference this time around, however, is that the Bush administration has begun publicly signaling its impatience with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer described the Ramallah operation as unhelpful, and the United States today abstained from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding that Israel end the siege. By refraining from using its veto, Washington allowed the measure to be approved by the other 14 Council members.
Hours before the vote in the Security Council, other Israeli troops raided the Gaza Strip, killing nine Palestinians in clashes and further complicating efforts to defuse the crisis. NEWSWEEK’s Dan Ephron spoke to Bassan Abu Sharif, a longstanding political adviser to Arafat, about conditions inside the compound and the international community’s response to the siege. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: What is Yasir Arafat’s situation inside the besieged compound?
BASSAN ABU SHARIF: I’m talking to him regularly. His morale is high. The general line is that nobody will surrender, no list will be produced of the people inside [as Israel has demanded] and he will not capitulate. He will never leave Palestine.
What kinds of initiatives are underway to end the standoff?
The United States contacted some of the Arab countries–Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia– and encouraged them to talk to the Palestinians. Washington wants to convince us to stop the efforts at the U.N. Security Council and in exchange the U.S. promises to solve the problem. Certain Arab states refused to intervene, others did so but the Palestinian attitude is very clear: We have no trust in Sharon, he’s a manipulator. All the people in the compound are aides of the president [Arafat.] Some are his lieutenants on security and financial matters and others are professional functionaries working for the president. It’s as if someone would want to round people up at the White House and arrest them.
Israelis say some of the security people in the compound, like intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi, were involved in attacks on Israel. Why not hand him over and let the courts decide?
Tawfiq Tirawi is like the chief of the CIA for the West Bank. He can’t possibly be involved in any of what the Palestinian Authority considers illegal operations inside Israel or suicide bombings or whatever. He reports to his president, he was in charge of leading the security team in negotiations with the Israelis for years. They know him very well and they know that the accusation is not correct. Tirawi and the rest of the people are not involved in this.
How would you describe the international community’s response to the siege? Israel says even traditional allies of the Palestinians in Europe have been indifferent.
The Israelis are day-dreaming. The Americans are applying serious pressure and they’re doing it because the Palestinian issue takes the focus off the Iraqi issue. When Palestinians broke the curfew and defied the tanks [in demonstrations that began over the weekend], this was a turning point. It was a new upheaval and a new vote of confidence in Yasir Arafat. It was also a trigger point for many Arab nations and I believe this week we’ll see many Arabs throughout this region demonstrating. This will not create a positive situation for George W. Bush’s effort to go to war against Iraq. And I can tell you from my unofficial American sources that Bush is very mad at Sharon but he’s too worried politically to say anything–worried about his second term and about his brother’s election in Florida.
What about military contacts between Israelis and Palestinians?
There are some Israeli officers of the coordination office who are nervously going in and out of the area of the compound and contacting some Palestinian security officers, but it’s in vain because no list will be given and no one will surrender.
Your office is about two blocks away from the compound. What else can you tell me conditions inside?
The electricity is back, but the air-conditioning line was torn up by a bulldozer–actually an American Caterpillar–so it’s very hot in the building, which is 80 years old. Water is scarce because the pipes are not repaired yet. The Israelis are supplying bread and a little food. The situation is truly deplorable for these 240 people.
How has the siege affected Arafat’s standing with his own people? Some people say it’s been blessing in disguise for him.
The demonstrations [by Palestinians against Israel] were very positive… Sharon is saying Arafat is irrelevant but then why is he besieging him? He wants to oust Arafat and that’s it.
Sharon says Arafat is abetting the Hamas attacks.
All the actions of Hamas inside Israel, targeting civilians, only hurt the supreme interests of the Palestinian people. The people who blow themselves up are poor and desperate, but I condemn those who send them. No one has played into the hands of Sharon better than Hamas and Islamic Jihad. What Sharon is doing is besieging the forces of moderation and peace and letting Hamas and Islamic Jihad off the hook because they serve his purposes of keeping the Palestinians under occupation.
