U.S. and Israel Disagree on West Bank Security
A senior Israeli military official said today that there was no point in America's undertaking a diplomatic mission to rebuild the Palestinian security force while Yasir Arafat was in charge and that Israel needed to retain responsibility for security in the occupied territories.

But Secretary of State Colin L. Powell insisted that the United States planned to proceed with the effort anyway, and said that Mr. Arafat had made encouraging statements about the need for reforms.

The starkly contrasting positions are part of a broad debate over efforts to reform the Palestinian Authority. The Bush administration has argued that the reform must take place, to give the Palestinians hope that they can one day have their own state, and to give them tools to stop terrorist attacks.

Israel would no longer rely on Mr. Arafat's security force to stop terrorist attacks in the occupied territories, he said, adding that efforts to implement the Tenet plan to establish a cease-fire were no longer relevant.

Mr. Powell, for his part, offered an entirely different view. He said he planned to meet with Mr. Tenet on Thursday to discuss his trip to the Middle East, which Mr. Powell said would occur "within the not-too-distant future." Mr. Powell added that he was encouraged by Mr. Arafat's talk about reform.

"I'm encouraged that he would talk about reform in the same terms that we have talked about reform, and others have talked about reform," Mr. Powell said. "It's something that has to come from within if it's going to be real and it's going to stick."

"With all the setbacks that come along the way," he said, "we are going to keep driving forward."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/16/international/middleeast/16ISRA.html