Word: aqaba
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Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas seemed uncomfortable in the official meetings with his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, and President George W. Bush at their summit in Aqaba, Jordan, last week. So Bush stepped in and did what he does best: he schmoozed. Leaving aides and interpreters behind, the President took the two leaders outside, where they sat under the shade of palm trees for 40 minutes and discussed ways to give a fresh start to the peace process. "I wanted...to observe the interplay between the two," Bush said later. "Did they have the capacity to relax in each other...
Bush's enthusiasm was genuine. One diplomat, who was in the room at a summit of Arab leaders in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh the day before the Aqaba meeting, said Bush delivered a blunt message: "Look guys, if I didn't think I could do this, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't waste my time and come all this distance if I didn't know I could do it." White House aides later said that the President's words were not so self-referential, and that he didn't mean to suggest...
...process could unravel. If Abbas fails to rein in the militants, Sharon could be forced to respond aggressively and expose Bush to charges from hard-liners at home that he's jeopardizing Israel's security in a misguided quest to be a peace broker. Just two days after Aqaba, Hamas, one of the most militant terrorist groups operating in the Palestinian territories, scuttled a meeting with Abbas to discuss a cease-fire. And if Bush sides with Sharon, the stature the President has only just secured with the Arabs will disappear. "The summit was fine and dandy," says a senior...
...Abbas, now the Palestinian Prime Minister, prepares for another meeting with a U.S. President, Arafat has entered what may prove to be his most portentous sulk yet. George W. Bush is scheduled to arrive in the Red Sea port of Aqaba, Jordan, this week for a summit with Abbas and his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon. Bush wants more than a reaffirmation of their commitment to his road map for peace in the Middle East; he is expected to demand a real timetable for progress and genuine action on the ground. Sharon last week signaled that he is willing, though some...
...beneficiary of Abbas's troubles, of course, is Yasser Arafat. He reportedly fumed at having to watch the Aqaba summit on TV from Ramallah, the White House having done its best to use President Bush's first-ever Middle East trip to crown Abbas as the new national leader of the Palestinians and consign Arafat to the dustbin of history. Bush pulled no punches during his stay in Egypt, telling a local TV network that "it's impossible to achieve peace with Chairman Arafat." Arafat's objective, by contrast, is to prove that peace is impossible without him. Washington...