U.S. eases up on Palestinians

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has backed away from demands that the Palestinian Authority dismantle militant groups immediately, concerned that the authority's security forces are too weak at this point to carry out a speedy crackdown, administration officials said on Friday.

The officials said that as a result of the changed thinking about Palestinian abilities, they had come to accept the cease-fire the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, negotiated last month with Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

In June, when the cease-fire was negotiated, it was belittled by Israeli and U.S. officials as a poor substitute for tough actions against militants. Lately, as attacks on Israelis have declined and support for Abbas among Palestinians seems to have grown, U.S. officials have changed their tone.

"Both sides now think the cease-fire is a good idea and the early Israeli skepticism has changed," said a senior administration official, referring to Israeli and Palestinian positions. He said one advantage of the cease-fire is to give Abbas time to build up and consolidate his security forces for a future campaign against militant groups.

The cease-fire is supposed to last only three months. The United States is pressuring Israel to improve conditions in Palestinian areas so there would be overwhelming popular pressure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to continue the cease-fire for at least another three months.

In this period, American officials say they hope to speed as much as $300 million in aid for the Palestinian Authority, channeled through the CIA, to replace everything from jails to communication equipment to vehicles destroyed in the last two years by Israeli armed forces.

Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the administration's thinking on the issue of the cease-fire was discussed this week when the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, met with President Bush at the White House, and last week during a visit by Abbas.

Abbas and his security director, Muhammad Dahlan, have appealed to U.S. officials on the issue of taking on militant groups, U.S. officials said, arguing that the Palestinian security forces are splintered, with many members remaining loyal to Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader with whom Washington refuses to deal.

"We've emphatically stated in public and private what needs to be done," said a senior U.S. official. "It is clear that it cannot be done instantly. It requires planning, a strengthening of security forces and a unification of those forces under Abbas and Dahlan."

To create what the official called "political space" for Abbas to build up his popularity and strengthen his command of his forces, U.S. officials say that the United States must quietly continue to pressure Israel to improve Palestinian conditions and meet other Palestinian requests. To this end, U.S. and Israeli officials created two task forces after the meeting on Tuesday between Bush and Sharon, administration officials said.

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