Much hinged on various Arab consultations with the US President. But it is Ariel Sharon who is gathering the fruits, writes Graham Usher from Jerusalem Try as it may it will be difficult for the Arab world to present George Bush's meeting with Ariel Sharon on Monday as anything other than an American collapse in the face of the Israeli leader's militaristic solutions for the region. The first prize was granted even before Sharon's plane touched down in Washington. "We're not ready to lay down a specific calendar" for any revival of the political process, announced Bush at a press conference with President Mubarak at Camp David on Saturday. "A specific calendar" had been Mubarak's crucial underpinning for his three- stage exit from the crisis, based on Palestinian Authority reforms, an early declaration of Palestinian statehood and final status negotiations lasting three years. With the timeline out of the way Sharon's other objectives came thick and fast. Bush agreed with the Israeli Prime Minister that a return to negotiations must now be predicated not only on a "complete cessation of [Palestinian] terrorism, hostilities and incitement", but also on Palestinian reform so that a "different" PA can emerge. As for the mooted regional peace conference this summer, "the conditions aren't even there yet," said Bush. "That's because no one has confidence in the emerging Palestinian government." Secretary of State Colin Powell later finessed the comment by saying his President was still committed to some form of regional gathering. But the sense was that Bush spoke from the heart of his administration, Powell to the ears of Arab leaders. This, at least, is how Sharon understood it. "The visit has been a great success," he beamed before stopping off in London to convince Prime Minister Blair of the wisdom of reform preceding negotiations. As for the "emerging Palestinian government", it was due to hold an augural meeting of its new "streamlined" cabinet, cut down from 32 to 21 ministers in a reshuffle on Sunday. It was prevented from doing so by the army's tenth invasion of Ramallah, with tanks again besieging Arafat's presidential compound and soldiers enforcing a curfew on 50,000 Palestinians. "Israel has the right to defend itself," Bush said when asked about the invasion. Ramallah was one of several army incursions, as Sharon proceeded apace with his new/old policy of establishing Israel's untrammeled military rule throughout the occupied territories. Tulkarem, Qalqiliya, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jenin and villages between them were also re-occupied for varying durations. The siege on Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps was tightened while work was commenced on a new separation "fence", a de facto annexation of hundreds of dunums of Palestinian land, especially around the West Bank border areas of Jenin and Tulkarem. To round things off, on Tuesday Israeli bulldozers demolished six Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, swelling to 33 the number of Palestinians houses destroyed this year in its occupied capital. Palestinians resisted the assaults by attacking Jewish settlements near Hebron and Nablus and inside the Gaza Strip, killing three settlers and losing a dozen fighters in the actions. On Tuesday a Palestinian suicide bomber killed an Israeli teenager outside a café in Herziliya near Tel Aviv. The action was condemned by the PA, praised by Hamas and is supported by the majority of Palestinians, according to a Palestinian poll released this week. Many Palestinians took Bush's apparent wholesale adoption of Israel's agenda as a green light for future moves by Sharon to oust the Palestinian leader once and for all. Sharon reportedly told Bush that he "could not guarantee Arafat's inviolability". But in general the person of the Palestinian leader was "barely mentioned" in his talks with American leaders, said Israeli officials. For now Sharon appears to have agreed to the US stricture to wait and see whether the reform process will divest Arafat of his authority "from within". Indeed, some Israeli analysts believe that an Arafat in office but powerless is a boon to Sharon, since it allows him an American covenant for his ongoing re- colonisation of the West Bank and Gaza. "After all," Israel's former Justice Minister, Yossi Beilin, commented wryly, "what if a Palestinian Jefferson were to arise in Arafat's place? What would Mr Sharon do then?"
