Mona Ziade
Daily Star staff

Palestinians and Israelis buried more young victims of violence Wednesday as the West Bank and Gaza braced for further bloodshed following a tacit US “green light” for Ariel Sharon to crush the remnants of Yasser Arafat’s government.
Israeli tanks, which had been encircling the Palestinian president’s battered headquarters in Ramallah since Monday, began pulling away late Wednesday after netting 50 Palestinians in the sweep.
And the Israeli prime minister, buoyed by an effusively friendly reception in Washington, flew to London hoping to woo the normally less sympathetic Europeans.
But as the race between the diplomatic and military options intensified, details of Sharon’s discussions with US President George W. Bush offered an explanation for the White House’s waning support for the creation of a Palestinian state.
Sharon told Bush that such a state would destabilize Israel and, perhaps, lead to the downfall of his government, according to a senior Israeli official who briefed reporters in London.
“Under the present conditions, support for a Palestinian state would provoke the collapse” of his government, Sharon told Bush.
“Mr. Sharon added that if he was obliged to accept arrangements with a view to the creation of a Palestinian state, it would lead ipso facto to early elections and a political freeze of around six months in Israel,” the Israeli official said.
During a round of meetings Tuesday on Capitol Hill, Sharon said he would not rely on the European Union because of what he called Europe’s historically unbalanced approach to Israel. But the Israeli official in Sharon’s entourage said Israel realizes Britain ranks among the friendliest of a generally unfriendly European Union.
In contrast, the EU signaled sympathy for the Palestinians, calling on Israel in a statement to withdraw from occupied towns and let the new Palestinian government get on with its job.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell sought to play down hints of a change of heart toward the Palestinians but raised a new possibility that falls short of Palestinian aspirations. He told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that the Bush administration was now talking to other countries about setting up a “provisional” Palestinian state.
“I think almost everybody has come to the agreement that there is a need for a provisional or interim steps,” Powell said. “The question is how long should that be the case and how does one get to the comprehensive solution at the end.”
Powell also sought to dispel speculation that Bush’s recent public antipathy for Arafat indicated that the White House had endorsed Sharon’s bid to sideline the Palestinian president.
“It’s up to the Palestinian people to determine who their leader is,” Powell said.
Powell has said Bush would round out his consultations on the Middle East with a meeting on Thursday with the Saudi Arabia’s veteran foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal. Then, “in the very near future,” Bush will announce his next step in the search for peace .
Prince Saud is on a damage-control mission in Washington following Sharon’s trip.
Separately, Jordan’s King Abdullah II was soliciting Europe’s help to defuse tensions and restart peace negotiations.
In an address to the European Union’s 626-member Parliament in Strasbourg, Abdullah said: “This ugly wound holds back progress in the Middle East and inflames extremism.
“We urgently need Europe to take a leadership role,” he said. “Now more than ever, people need to see results, real security, viable independence, and a future of hope.”
Tensions remained high on Wednesday after widespread violence a day earlier left 11 Palestinians and an Israeli dead.
The Palestinian dead included 8-year-old Hussein Matwi, who was hit by a bullet in his home, a thatched hut in the Gaza Strip. Also, a Palestinian suicide bomber struck Tuesday night north of Tel Aviv, killing a 15-year-old Israeli girl. Both youngsters were buried on Tuesday following emotional funerals that only deepened the wounds of 20 months of bloodshed.
And just before midnight Tuesday, troops fired on seven armed Palestinians who approached the road leading to the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in Gaza, killing four. There was no exchange of fire, but the army said it found explosives and assault rifles on the bodies. Israel Radio said a fifth attacker later died of his wounds.
The Palestinian leadership issued a statement denouncing the suicide bombing at a restaurant in Herzliya, saying that “it gives Israel a reason to attack the Palestinian people.”
But officials were already bracing for the return of Sharon, emboldened by the support he received from Bush, who has described the incursions as acts of “self-defense.”
“This American approval is very dangerous,” said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. “It shows that President Bush supports the toppling of the Palestinian Authority.”
Said Palestinian security official Jibril Rajoub: “Bush made a critical mistake by supporting this crazy prime minister whose policy is endangering the interests of the United States.” ­ With agencies

Copyright © The Daily Star