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Bush Won't Budge on Mideast: Rejects Egypt's Plea to Broker Peace Deal as Mubarak Warns of Escalating Violence
Wednesday, March 6, 2002
By Paul Koring
The Globe

President Bush, who has refused to meet Mr. Arafat, recalled Middle East peace envoy Anthony Zinni two months ago and gave no indication that he will return soon. "We don't send envoys just to have somebody out there," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday. "We send envoys out when there's something useful that can be done."

WASHINGTON
As the carnage continued unabated in Israel and the occupied territories yesterday, U.S. President George W. Bush rejected an appeal from America's closest Arab ally to intervene in the conflict personally.

Mr. Bush applauded Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's pursuit of peace but refused to budge from his insistence that violence must cease before Washington will involve itself directly.

"The United States also believes that this goal is only possible if there is a maximum effort to end violence throughout the region, starting with Palestinian efforts to stop attacks against Israelis," he said.

Mr. Mubarak, the latest world leader to push for greater U.S. involvement in the conflict, wants Mr. Bush to summon Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat to talks "whether they like it or not."

Otherwise, the Egyptian leader warned, there is a risk of a wider conflict as the violence grows. "More escalation, more losses, and I am afraid . . . the whole area will be in trouble," he said in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations before his Oval Office meeting.

Mr. Bush, appearing with Mr. Mubarak, made no reference to the Egyptian leader's proposal but said, "We are both determined to redouble our efforts to work for peace."
(More: The Globe & Mail News Source)
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