Bush directed CIA to find replacement for Yasser Arafat: Documents

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Almost 19 years after the suspicious death of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, British documents revealed that former US President George Bush urged the CIA to find a replacement for Yasser in the wake of Al- Aqsa Intifada in 2001.

At the time, the US failed in meditating the "Camp David" negotiations in 2000 between Arafat and Ehud Barak, the then-Israeli Prime minister, following escalating tensions and confrontations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The papers, which were recently released, revealed that Bush forecasted that Ariel Sharon, who succeeded Barak in power, would use the Gaza Strip to sow division among the Palestinians.

They also eviscerated the discussions that took place between Britain and the United States a few months after Bush and his neoconservative-dominated cabinet ruled.

A flashback

It is worth noting that when Bush assumed his presidency in January 2001; the second Palestinian Intifada, which erupted after Sharon brutally stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque on September 28, 2000, was at its peak.

At the time, the Bush administration urged Palestinian leaders to end the intifada before the beginning of security talks with "Israel".

Following the cancellation of the project, Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke over the phone about the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In one of the leaked records, the British Prime Minister expressed his "concern" for Arafat, adding that "he no longer has anything more to offer than he had," implying that he had made all feasible concessions.

Bush shared the same stance as Blair and then called Arafat "weak and useless." He revealed that he had requested that the CIA look for potential successors to the Palestinian leader. 

After nearly four years of strained US efforts, the Palestinian leader died on November 11, 2004, in France from a brain hemorrhage caused by what was believed to be a deadly chemical put into his body. Palestinians and Arabs blamed "Israel" for his death.