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Boucher reaffirmed hamas terror list { July 29 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-meast29.htmlhttp://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-meast29.html
Israelis try to aid Abbas with new concessions
July 29, 2003
BY LYNN SWEET Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON--The White House on Monday welcomed the series of concessions Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made in advance of his meeting today with the president.
"We welcome steps like this, that improve the relationship between the Israelis and the Palestinians," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
Bush continues to raise the stakes for himself as a broker of Middle East peace and as a chief sponsor of the so-called "road map," which sets down a process to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
On Friday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas made his first White House visit where Bush, who has shunned Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat for more than a year, pointedly praised the new prime minister to bolster his standing at home.
To pave the way for his visit, Sharon and his cabinet rolled out a series of decisions designed to show the Israelis in a cooperative posture and wanting Abbas to succeed.
The Israelis said they intend to release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including 210 from Hamas and Islamic Jihad; return to the Palestinian Authority power over two West Bank cities; remove three West Bank roadblocks that made travel among Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron difficult; issue thousands more work permits for Palestinians, and to consider ways to reduce the impact of the barrier snaking its way through the West Bank.
When it comes to the White House meetings, what is unsaid is as important as what is said.
For example, when Bush sits down with Sharon this morning, the security fence Israel is erecting in the West Bank will be on the agenda. But how hard Bush will press the contentious issue is another matter.
On Friday, Abbas, standing next to Bush, said "the wall must come down."
"I think the wall is a problem and I have discussed it with Ariel Sharon," Bush said. The barrier makes it "very difficult."
But Bush's language, while critical, did not include a specific demand to halt construction or tear down the existing structures. And Bush stuck to the sequence favored by the Israelis, that terrorist activity has to be stopped first before moving on to other matters.
Bush also did not press Abbas publically to dismantle terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as Israel wants. A three-month truce started at the end of June.
In a Newsweek interview, Abbas said Hamas "now is intending to be part of our society" and that he wanted to avoid "a civil war or confrontation with these people."
On Monday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher reaffirmed that the United States will continue to list Hamas and Islamic Jihad as terrorist organizations, even if they do provide a network of social services in the West Bank and Gaza.
"We have made very, very clear that they are on our terrorist list for good reason," Boucher said. "That we make no distinction between political, social, military activities for these groups; and that these groups, since their major purpose is to support terrorism, they need to be eliminated as a source of terrorism."
This is Sharon's eighth visit to the White House since he took office in 2001.
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