ISLAMABAD – February 1 (ONLINE) British Broad Casters (BBC) has recently revealed shocking documentation, which claimed how the then United States (US) President George W Bush ordered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to find a ‘replacement’ for the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
According to BBC, British documents reveal the effort came right after the deliberations between Arafat and then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak – called the ‘Camp David Negotiations’, failed.
BBC reported that George W Bush firstly expected Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon – who succeeded Barak – would “use the Gaza Strip to sow divisions among the Palestinians.”
Basically, the documents are based on official conversations between United Kingdom (UK) and the US administration. As Bush entered White House, tensions between Palestinians and Israel were on peak – as Barak had entered Al Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards, igniting anger in Palestinians.
To cope with rising tensions and creating feasible environment for security negotiations with Israel, Bush asked Palestinian leader Arafat to condense down the anger. As negotiations failed, BBC reported that US President had a telephonic conversation with then British Prime Minister Tony Blair in which the Palestinian-Israel conflict was discussed.
Documents revealed by BBC have reportedly revealed that British Prime Minister said Palestinian leader Arafat was a ‘liability’, according to minutes of the telephone call taking place between two leaders. Both Bush and Blair agreed that Arafat was no longer “of their use” as he had “nothing to offer them.”
According to the documents, Bush agreed with what Blair believed. He termed the Palestinian leader “weak and useless.”
Bush in this phone call reportedly told British Prime Minister that he had asked his supreme intelligence agency CIA to “look for Arafat’s alternative”, but said that the agency “researched the Palestinian scene thoroughly and concluded that there is no successor available”.
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