When friends collide: Bush and Sharon

Bush clearly wants Israel to show great restraint in hitting back at terrorist in order to curry support amongst the Arabs in the Middle East, support needed for military bases and installations, and to keep any war with Iraq confined to that one country. Israel, on the other hand, has its vital interests at stake and needs to show they will not buckle under threats of terrorism, lest this encourage the killers to continue their assault upon Israel. This article indicates the problem that both nations, good friends, face.

Oct. 15, 2002 | JERUSALEM -- Last Wednesday, members of the Israeli cabinet were flown to the Negev desert in southern Israel to attend an army training drill. Under the blazing sun of late summer, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, his ministers and the country's top brass watched the ground forces "occupy" a mock Palestinian village and saw a bulldozer razing one of the "homes." Sharon used the stage to talk about the coming American attack on Iraq. "The clouds of war are darkening in our region, and I hope they will not reach us," he told the TV cameras, "but this should be known: If Israel is attacked, it will defend its citizens."

With this carefully worded statement, Sharon broke a self-imposed silence on the Iraq issue. Only days before, he had acquiesced to an American demand and ordered his fellow cabinet members to avoid discussing it. The timing of his warning was significant. On Wednesday, the Israeli leader will meet with President George W. Bush for the seventh time. One of Sharon's aides described it as a "critical" meeting: Sharon's leadership will be put to the test as the Middle East prepares for an earthquake that is likely to change its strategic landscape, perhaps for decades to come. Both Sharon and Bush want to use the meeting to clarify the rules of behavior, at least until the war is over, and to start discussing the realities of "the day after."

Two issues, Iraq and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, will dominate the White House encounter.