Bush says Arafat damaged ‘road map’

President Bush yesterday blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for “stalled” peace efforts in the Middle East, saying he torpedoed recent progress made by Palestinian territories ousted Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

“Mr. Arafat has failed as a leader,” the president said in a short press conference with Jordanian leader King Abdullah II at Camp David, Md. “And as I mentioned, Prime Minister Abbas was undermined at all turns by the old order — that meant Mr. Arafat.”

On Iraq, Mr. Bush said he does not expect passage of a U.S.-proposed resolution calling for the creation of a multinational force in Iraq before he addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

Several nations, including Turkey, Poland and India, have balked at contributing troops to the U.S.-led effort in Iraq without a U.N. resolution. Still, Mr. Bush expressed optimism that the United Nations would soon approve the U.S. resolution.

“The whole purpose, of course, is to make sure that the nations feel — if they need a U.N. resolution, they’ll have one, in order to justify participation,” he said. “We’re still working it.”

Standing shoulder to shoulder with King Abdullah, the president expressed disgust over the actions of Mr. Arafat, who forced Mr. Abbas to resign Sept. 6 after internal power struggles.

The Bush administration had sought to marginalize Mr. Arafat by dealing only with Mr. Abbas, who met with Mr. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in June in Egypt and at the Red Sea Summit in Aqaba, Jordan, hosted by King Abdullah.

At Aqaba, the trio discussed how to implement the U.S.-proposed “road map” to Middle East peace, which envisions an autonomus Palestinian state in 2005.

“His efforts were undermined, and that’s why we’re now stalled,” Mr. Bush said. “Prime Minister Abbas made a good-faith effort to meet the commitments made at Aqaba. … Mr. Arafat has failed in that effort.”

Mr. Bush said he remains committed to the Middle East peace plan and “the vision of two states living side by side in peace and security. Yet, that would only happen with new Palestinian leadership committed to fighting terror, not compromised by terror.”

While Mr. Arafat handpicked Ahmed Qureia to be the new prime minister, Mr. Bush said Palestinian leaders still are not committed to peace in the region.

“Hopefully, at some point in time, a leadership of the Palestinian Authority will emerge which will then commit itself 100 percent to fighting off terror. And then we’ll be able to consolidate the power necessary to fight off terror. …

King Abdullah, who joined Mr. Bush at Camp David a day early to avoid Hurricane Isabel, praised Mr. Bush for his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.

“It took a lot of courage to come to the Middle East, to meet in Sharm el-Sheikh with Arab leaders, and then again to come to Aqaba and give hopes to the Israelis and Palestinians to move forward,” the king said.

Meanwhile, the United States called on Jordan to restore its freeze on the bank accounts of six leaders of Hamas, an extremist group that has killed scores of Israelis with suicide bombings.

Jordan’s Central Bank retracted a decision this week that had frozen the accounts of six leaders of Hamas and five charities that were suspected of funneling money to the group.

“Jordan has been an important ally in the war on terrorists, including the financial war on terrorism,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday. “We urge the government of Jordan to restore its order to freeze the assets of these Hamas leaders and charities.”

On Iraq, Mr. Bush said he would “continue to make the case that reconstruction aid is necessary.” But he said the process will take time and cannot move forward until certain conditions are met.

“The U.N. resolution must promote an orderly transfer of sovereignty to what will be a freely elected government, based upon a constitution,” he said. “The constitution must be written, and there will be free elections, and then sovereignty will occur once the Iraqi people are able to express their opinions.”