US Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, said he supported an end to Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat's tenure, but said for now, the United States must "work with what we have."
"I do think it is important for us to be pushing for a regime change ... in the Palestinian movement," Daschle told Fox News on Sunday.
"We've got to find somebody who can make decisions on a more constructive basis than what we've seen from Mr. Arafat."
In calling for a regime change, however, Daschle said it would have to come "from within the Palestinian movement."
"I don't think we can force it ourselves, but I do think that it's necessary to reach some peaceful arrangement," he said.
Daschle rejected any US move to sideline Arafat by refusing to work with the Palestinian leader, and stressed that until new leadership emerges, "we've got to deal with what we've got."
"We've got to do all we can to work with the leadership and express our disappointment and very serious concerns about the lack of leadership shown by Mr. Arafat on so many occasions," he commented. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
