President George W. Bush wants to boost the political fortunes of Mahmoud Abbas while also pushing the Palestinians' first democratically elected leader to tackle the tough job of dismantling Palestinian militant groups.
It's a delicate balancing act for Bush, who was meeting with Abbas yesterday at the White House for the first time since the Palestinian Authority president's election in January.
Ahead of the meeting, a Bush administration official and congressional aides said the authority could receive more direct aid from the US. One aide said Bush was expected to announce that tens of millions of dollars would go to the authority, a move that could anger some members of Congress who still worry about corruption in Palestinian ranks. The aide and the others spoke on condition of anonymity because a decision was not complete.
Abbas is seen by the White House as a Palestinian leader it can work with, unlike the late Yasser Arafat, with whom Bush refused to meet. But Abbas comes to the White House in need of help, as his ruling Fatah party faces a threat in upcoming parliamentary elections from the militant group Hamas, which posted a strong showing in recent local elections.
A report out of the West Bank on Wednesday, citing two officials close to Abbas, said the Palestinian leader wants to delay the July elections until November in hopes of recapturing some of the popular support Fatah has lost.
Abbas told reporters in Washington that there had been no change in the election schedule, but added that "the Palestinian parliament is studying a new election law and we will see what happens."
Israel, meanwhile, has refused to return to the negotiating table with the Palestinians until completing its plan to withdraw settlements this summer from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank -- and until Abbas does more to rein in terrorist groups that attack Israel. Abbas has tended to choose compromise with militants over confrontation.
Amid those developments, Bush has embarked on a fresh drive to invigorate the search for peace in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Last month, Bush brought Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as well as Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, to his Texas ranch.
Abbas was hoping Bush would reaffirm his commitment to the internationally backed road map peace plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and creating a Palestinian state. Abbas has been concerned that US support for Israel's unilateral plan to withdraw from Gaza has diverted attention from the road map.
Palestinians, however, are skeptical, fearing Sharon's plan will give him cover to hold on to other major West Bank settlements in any final peace deal.
So Abbas, also meeting with other administration officials and lawmakers during a three-day Washington visit, was bringing an agenda of his own into the Oval Office.
He wants the US to pressure Israel to return to the negotiating table and a promise that Washington will not prejudge the final borders of a future Palestinian state.
During Sharon's meeting with Bush, the Israeli leader won a key assurance from Bush, that it would be unrealistic to expect a pullback to the borders before Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war.
"We asked for direct aid. We have a budget, we have a finance ministry, we have laws, we have everything. There is no excuse for this money to come through non-governmental organizations," Abbas said on Wednesday.
With direct assistance to the authority allowed only through a presidential waiver of existing law, the vast majority of US aid to the Palestinians has been channeled through the UN and private relief organizations. Over the past two years, just US$40 million has been given directly to the authority.
Congress has approved US$275 million in Palestinian aid for this year and is considering Bush's request for an additional US$150 million for next year. The new direct aid would be a part of that package.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constructing a new counter-stealth radar system on a disputed reef in the South China Sea that would significantly expand its surveillance capabilities in the region, satellite imagery suggests. Analysis by London-based think tank Chatham House suggests China is upgrading its outpost on Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) on the southwest corner of the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), building what might be a launching point for an anti-ship missile battery and sophisticated radar system. “By constraining the US ability to operate stealth aircraft, and threaten stealth aircraft, these capabilities in the South China Sea send
HAVANA: Repeated blackouts have left residents of the Cuban capital concerned about food, water supply and the nation’s future, but so far, there have been few protests Maria Elena Cardenas, 76, lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana’s colonial old town. The building has an elegant past, but for the last few days Maria has been cooking with sticks she had found on the street. “You know, we Cubans manage the best we can,” she said. She lives in the shelter because her home collapsed, a regular occurrence in the poorest, oldest parts of the beautiful city. Cuba’s government has spent the last days attempting to get the island’s national grid functioning after repeated island-wide blackouts. Without power, sleep becomes difficult in the heat, food
Botswana is this week holding a presidential election energized by a campaign by one previous head-of-state to unseat his handpicked successor whose first term has seen rising discontent amid a downturn in the diamond-dependent economy. The charismatic Ian Khama dramatically returned from self-exile six weeks ago determined to undo what he has called a “mistake” in handing over in 2018 to Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who seeks re-election tomorrow. While he cannot run as president again having served two terms, Khama has worked his influence and standing to support the opposition in the southern African country of 2.6 million people. “The return of
SOUTH CHINA SEA TENSIONS: Beijing’s ‘pronounced aggressiveness’ and ‘misbehavior’ forced countries to band together, the Philippine defense chief said The Philippines is confident in the continuity of US policies in the Asia-Pacific region after the US presidential election, Philippine Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro said, underlining that bilateral relations would remain strong regardless of the outcome. The alliance between the two countries is anchored in shared security goals and a commitment to uphold international law, including in the contested waters of the South China Sea, Teodoro said. “Our support for initiatives, bilaterally and multilaterally ... is bipartisan, aside from the fact that we are operating together on institutional grounds, on foundational grounds,” Teodoro said in an interview. China’s “misbehavior” in the South