Sharon seeks US support on blocking Iraqi missiles

WASHINGTON -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is set to meet with President Bush hoping to hear about U.S. plans to block a possible Iraqi missile attack on Israel and to answer U.S. charges that his government is not doing enough to ease restrictions on the Palestinians.\nSharon was to confer President Bush at the White House on Wednesday, his seventh visit since taking office in March last year. He arrived from Jerusalem at dawn Tuesday.\nA few hours before leaving, Sharon called on the Palestinians to replace their current leadership, a reference to Yasser Arafat.\n"Your terrible suffering is needless," Sharon told the Palestinians during a speech to Israel's parliament. "Blood is being spilled for nothing. Change the despotic regime that is leading you from failure to failure, from tragedy to tragedy."\nHowever, he added: "I assess that there is a real possibility that the coming year will be a turning point. I believe that our Palestinian neighbors will themselves reach a moment of change in their attitude toward Israel."\nSharon said his government would be "alert to any sign of change ... to make peace."\nBush, in a June speech, also called on the Palestinians to change leaders. The Palestinians have tentatively scheduled general elections in January.\nThe Israeli daily Haaretz on Monday said Bush and other administration officials would show Sharon a detailed presentation of how the United States plans to neutralize any Iraqi attempt to attack Israel in the event of a U.S. offensive against Saddam Hussein.\nThe object, the paper said, was to persuade Israel to show restraint if it believed the Iraqis were planning an assault.\nA diplomatic source described the report as broadly correct.\nThe source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed that Sharon got a sharp message from Washington last week, complaining that Israel has not honored promises to ease its blockade of Palestinian towns and villages and to turn over withheld taxes that Israel collected on behalf of the Palestinians.\nIsraeli Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar said that at Sunday's Cabinet meeting security officials warned that widespread lifting of restrictions on the Palestinians, as long as they fail to clamp down on militants, was an invitation to grave terror attacks.\nSaar also said Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein opposed transferring money to Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority unless it carried out promised financial reforms to ensure the money was not used to fund terror groups.\nSaar said Sharon would put those arguments to Bush.\n"All those questions, among them the humanitarian issues, will be discussed," he said. "We will present what we are doing, and what we cannot do, with the present situation."\nPalestinian Cabinet Minister Ghassan Khatib said he hoped Bush would try to convince Sharon to resume Israel-Palestinian negotiations.\n"They think that they should achieve by force whatever objectives they have and the Americans have to convince them that this is not working at the moment," Khatib said. "So far we didn't notice at all any American seriousness," he added.\nIn the run-up to a possible military campaign in Iraq, the United States wants Israel to refrain from high profile operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, liable to inflame Arab and world anger at Israel and its chief ally, the United States, diplomats have said.\nSharon spokesman Raanan Gissin denied media reports that while in the White House Sharon would notify Bush of plans for a major Gaza offensive.\n"That's total nonsense," he said.\nAn Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel had no intention of launching a broad-scale Gaza incursion and would not give the Americans advance warning even if it had such plans.\nSaar said Sharon and Bush would also discuss a water dispute causing new tension between Israel and its neighbor to the north, Lebanon.