MIDDLE EAST: US President Bush yesterday at the White House received the foreign ministers of the US's three closest allies in the Arab world who were expected to present him with their own alternative plan for transition to Palestinian statehood, writes Patrick Smyth, Washington Correspondent
But, following two days of talks in New York involving the three with US, EU, and Russian diplomats and ministers, it is clear US allies remain deeply concerned at the administration's insistent focus on removing the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat.
Earlier yesterday Mr Ahmed Maher of Egypt, Mr Marwan Muasher of Jordan, and Prince Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia met the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, for talks on a plan for reforming Palestinian security structures which is believed to involve an imminent mission to Palestine led by the CIA director, Mr George Tenet, and joined later by representatives of the three Arab countries.
Their alternative plan for reformimg Palestinian institutions - elections establishing a new government, and a written constitution as early as January - are conditional, however, on an Israeli army withdrawal from the Palestinian territories.
The plan is said by the Washington Post to have been agreed between the three last Friday in Cairo and to reflect the concern that the administration's strategy is too driven by domestic concerns ahead of November elections. Another concern is that the administration is also driven by sympathies with Israel's entirely security-focused agenda.
"The only way around it is to come up with a process that doesn't require [Mr Bush] to do anything major until after November," the Post quotes one Arab source as saying.
Despite sharp differences between the Arab ministers and Mr Powell on the future of Mr Arafat and the pace of Israeli steps to reciprocate Palestinian reforms, they all expressed satisfaction with the President's three year timetable for a Palestinian state.
On the Arafat issue, Mr Powell has hinted in recent days at a compromise which would see the Palestinian leader retain a largely ceremonial presidential role but ceding authority to a prime minister.
But Mr Bush dodged questions about that approach on Wednesday and repeated that Mr Arafat had "failed the Palestinian people". "The focus of my administration is to work with leaders from around the world, some of whom were in New York yesterday, to work to make sure there's a new constitution which divides power so that one person doesn't get to decide the fate of a group of people who have suffered mightily," Mr Bush said.