Documents say US President George W Bush considered the Palestinian leader ‘useless’ but US spy agency found no suitable successor.
British documents unmasked that former US President George Bush urged the CIA to find a replacement for Yasser in the wake of Al- Aqsa Intifada in 2001.
Recently released documents from the British government archive show that in 2001 the then US President George W Bush instructed the CIA to search for a possible successor to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after the escalation of the Second (“Aqsa”) Intifada, the BBC has reported.
According to the documents, the instructions came after the failure of the 2000 Camp David negotiations between Arafat and the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Moreover, they show that Bush expected that Ariel Sharon, who succeeded Barak as prime minister, would use the Gaza Strip in order to sow division among the Palestinians.
The documents deal with the discussions and contacts between Britain and the United States a few months after Bush entered the White House in January 2001. His administration was dominated by neoconservatives.
The Second Intifada broke out after Sharon stormed into Al-Aqsa Mosque escorted by hundreds of security personnel at the end of September 2000. By early in the following year it was at its height.
The Bush administration called on Arafat to stop the intifada as a prelude to starting security negotiations with Israel. The US president vetoed a draft resolution in the UN Security Council which proposed sending a UN observer force to protect Palestinian civilians from Israeli forces in the occupied territories.
Telephone calls between Bush and the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair focused on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. Blair expressed his “concern” for Arafat, according to the record of the calls written by Blair’s foreign affairs adviser, John Sawers.
“Arafat,” said Blair, “had reached the limits of what he can do constructively and he is only working to maintain his position.” He added that the Palestinian leader “no longer has anything to offer” having made all of the possible concessions that he could.
Bush endorsed what Blair had said, then described Arafat as “weak and useless”. He revealed that he had asked the CIA to search for possible successors to the Palestinian leader but said that the agency “researched the Palestinian scene thoroughly and concluded that there is no successor available.”
Arafat died in France on 11 November 2004 after a cerebral haemorrhage caused by a toxic substance. Traces of polonium were found on his clothes and body. Palestinians and Arabs still accuse Israel of assassinating him.
The British documents do not refer to Blair’s position on Bush’s plan to replace Arafat. However, the general assessment in Whitehall at the time was that Washington supported Israel’s actions in dealing with the intifada, including targeting members of Arafat’s inner security circle.
Twenty-four hours before Blair and Bush spoke on the phone, Sawers wrote a report in which he said, “The Bush administration took hard positions on the Middle East peace process.” The adviser added that Bush’s comments the night before, in which he “demanded that Arafat stop the violence, effectively gave his blessing to Israel’s strikes on Arafat’s bodyguards.”
At the time, Israel continued to carry out a military operation targeting Arafat’s bodyguards, and killed one of them in a helicopter strike, under the pretext of that he had participated in attacks on Israeli targets.
A flashback
It is worth noting that when Bush assumed his presidency in January 2001; the second Palestinian Intifada, which erupted after Sharon brutally stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque on September 28, 2000, was at its peak.
At the time, the Bush administration urged Palestinian leaders to end the intifada before the beginning of security talks with “Israel”.
Following the cancellation of the project, Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke over the phone about the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In one of the leaked records, the British Prime Minister expressed his “concern” for Arafat, adding that “he no longer has anything more to offer than he had,” implying that he had made all feasible concessions.
Bush shared the same stance as Blair and then called Arafat “weak and useless.” He revealed that he had requested that the CIA look for potential successors to the Palestinian leader.
After nearly four years of strained US efforts, the Palestinian leader died on November 11, 2004, in France from a brain hemorrhage caused by what was believed to be a deadly chemical put into his body. Palestinians and Arabs blamed “Israel” for his death.
