Analysis: Sharon seeks American support

Ariel Sharon: Anxious to show he is a pragmatist

By Middle East analyst Roger Hardy

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is in the United States for a series of meetings with top officials in the new US administration - and a meeting on Tuesday at the White House with President George W Bush.

Mr Sharon is keen to persuade American officials that, despite his hard-line reputation, he is a man they can do business with.

The first priority for both sides is to curb the continuing violence in the West Bank and Gaza.

Mr Sharon will have noticed the distinct coolness in relations between the new US administration and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

So the Israeli prime minister is likely to get a sympathetic hearing when he argues that he cannot be expected to revive peace talks with the Palestinians before Mr Arafat does more to curb the violence.

US criticism

At the same time, the Israeli prime minister is well aware of US criticism on two counts. First, Washington has characterised as "excessive" Israel's use of force against the intifada, the Palestinian uprising.

Ariel Sharon wants to convince the US he is interested in peace

Second, the Americans fear that the continuing Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territories will fuel Palestinian frustration and increase economic hardship.

The Israeli Prime Minister is accordingly making it clear that he is ready for an eventual resumption of peace talks. Rejecting the approach of his predecessor Ehud Barak, he is offering a series of partial agreements rather than one final, "end of conflict", settlement.

According to a leading Israeli commentator, Ze'ev Schiff, Mr Sharon is even ready to dismantle some of the Israeli settlements in Gaza, as an inducement to Mr Arafat to accept this approach.

Israeli anxieties

His message is that he is a pragmatist and that Israel and the US share the same interests in the Middle East - above all, the pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace and the containment of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Nevertheless there are Israeli anxieties about the new administration's emerging strategy in the Middle East.

Palestinians trample over images of Mr Bush in a West Bank demonstration

The Bush team is committed to giving more weight to Washington's main Arab allies - Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia - not least because it needs their co-operation in the attempt to contain Saddam Hussein.

But they in turn are already demanding that the US put more pressure on Israel to halt the suppression of the intifada - and to be more forthcoming in any future peace talks.

Mr Bush has shown he has some ideas of his own by phoning the Syrian leader, President Bashar al-Assad, on Friday - prompting speculation he wants to revive Israeli-Syrian peace talks which broke off more than a year ago.

The official line in Damascus is that Syria will not resume peace talks with Israel before there is progress on the Palestinian track.

But given that for the time being any significant breakthrough on the Palestinian front looks unlikely, Mr Bush may want to explore other avenues.