Bush threatens to cut off aid to Palestinians

CALGARY, Alberta -- President Bush on Wednesday told his key allies that the United States would cut off aid to the Palestinians if they failed to embrace the kind of changes he demanded on Monday.

He also stepped up his pressure for the removal of Yasser Arafat by warning that "we won't be putting money into a society" dominated by corrupt leadership that helps finance terrorists.

Bush's warning came as he met with Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, who became the first major ally to come close to embracing Bush's new approach to the Middle East. But on the sidelines of Wednesday's summit meeting of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations, held in a sealed-off mountain resort 60 miles from here, officials of several other nations, including Russia, warned that the threats to the Palestinians could backfire and result in a resounding electoral mandate for Arafat.

The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday formally announced a 100-day timetable for reform that had been sent to Bush and Arab leaders before Bush's speech on Monday. Elections for president will be held in January, the Palestinians confirmed, although there were conflicting reports from senior officials about whether Arafat would run.

Without mentioning Arafat by name, Bush told reporters Wednesday, "I've got confidence in the Palestinians, when they understand fully what we're saying, that they'll make the right decisions." But then he warned, "I can assure you, we won't be putting money into a society which is not transparent and corrupt, and I suspect other countries won't either."

Within hours, a senior administration official briefing reporters by telephone from the meeting site in the village of Kananaskis took the warning a step further, saying that while the Palestinian people are free to re-elect Arafat, they should know that it will cost them significant aid.

The official confirmed that the president had received an intelligence report that Arafat had approved a $20,000 payment to members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a Palestinian terror organization that claimed responsibility for the most recent suicide attack, killing six people at a bus stop in Jerusalem Thursday.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush "has given up hope that Yasser Arafat can be the one to implement reform."

But the president found scant outright support among G-8 leaders for his demand that Palestinians elect a new leader.

British Prime Minister Blair came closest to the U.S. position, saying "there has been an attitude toward terrorism" under Arafat.

Other leaders steered clear of denouncing the Palestinian leader. "With regards to the head of the Palestinian authority it is, naturally, for the Palestinian people -- and them alone -- to choose their representatives," French President Jacques Chirac said.

Later Wednesday, the G-8 leaders issued a document promising more cooperation on policing international transportation, from passenger aircraft to the millions of containers that are shipped around the world.

The document calls for the collection and sharing of advance information about passengers, and reinforcing cockpit doors. The leaders also committed to improving worldwide notification about lost or stolen passports.

In relative solitude, the leaders tinkered with an African relief plan they expect to release today. A senior German official said there was still debate over the percentage of overall foreign aid that each nation should dedicate to the continent.

Some countries want the bar set at 50 percent, a goal that others might find unrealistic.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, was hoping to win support for a program in which the United States, matched by other wealthy countries, will provide $10-billion over the next 10 years to help Russia decommission its nuclear stockpile.

Protesters kept far from site of summit

CALGARY, Alberta -- As eight of the world's most powerful leaders met behind tight security at a tiny Rocky Mountain resort 60 miles from here, hundreds of protesters marched peacefully through Calgary, then lay down in the streets in a "die-in" meant to raise awareness of rising AIDS rates in developing countries.

Jets patrolled a no-fly zone and sharpshooters stood guard as the leaders met in Kananaskis.

More than 1,000 soldiers patrolled the area. A caravan of protesters set out for Kananaskis Wednesday afternoon but was kept away.

More than 2,000 miles away in Ottawa, the Canadian capital, protesters burned an American flag outside the U.S. Embassy while others threw golf balls and paint-filled balloons that damaged street lamps, police cars and a bank window.

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