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March 2, 2001/Adar 7, 5761, Vol. 53, No.22
Powell visit heralds policies
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - If U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell made anything clear during his visit this week to Israel and the Palestinian-controlled city of Ramallah, it was that things have changed since President Clinton left office.
First, there was the duration of his visit - one day - Powell's meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders were wedged in between stop-offs in Egypt and Jordan.
Second, there was the absence of U.S. proposals aimed at ending the more than five months of Israeli-Palestinian violence and forging a final peace accord.
While Powell called on both sides to end the violence and return to negotiations - and pointedly told Israel to lift the economic sanctions it has imposed on the Palestinian Authority - he had little else to suggest to the two sides in his public comments other than that it is up to them to make the "hard decisions" that will enable them to return to the road of peace.
Since President Bush took office, U.S. officials have said that while they will continue to pursue Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, it is but one facet of their overall Middle East policy.
Indeed, Powell's trip to the Middle East - his first since becoming the top U.S. diplomat - appeared to be less about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than getting Arab support for U.S. policies aimed at containing Iraq.
Powell's regional tour included a stop in Kuwait to attend celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the end of the Persian Gulf War.
During meetings with Arab leaders this week, Powell discussed the need to keep sanctions against Iraq in place - first imposed in the wake of the war - in order to deal with the threat posed by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
During a joint news conference with Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon on Feb. 25, Powell stressed that Hussein had to be restrained.
Citing German intelligence reports that Baghdad might have nuclear weapons in three years, Powell said, "We have to make sure that we do everything we can to contain" Hussein.
As Powell arrived in Syria for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad, a state-run Syrian newspaper sharply criticized the emphasis on Iraq.
At the meeting they discussed the peace process, sanctions against Iraq and the oil it imports from Iraq through a pipeline to the Mediterranean.
The difficulty of putting an end to Israeli-Palestinian violence was underscored by several incidents that took place during Powell's visit. As Powell was urging the two sides to take steps to stop the cycle of violence, two Israeli settlers were wounded in separate shooting attacks in the West Bank.
After meeting Feb. 25, in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, Powell called on Israel to lift the economic "siege" it had imposed on the areas under Palestinian control since violence erupted last September.
Later that day, Israel announced that it was taking a step aimed at implementing at least a part of Powell's requests: The Israeli army lifted roadblocks it had set up last week that had divided the Gaza Strip into two.
For his part, Arafat used his joint news conference with Powell to call on the United States to ensure that Israel pick up negotiations from where they left off under outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Barak's purported willingness to give the Palestinians control over parts of eastern Jerusalem during last July's failed Camp David summit led to the defections of several coalition partners - and was a major factor in his defeat at the hands of Sharon in the nation's Feb. 6 elections for prime minister.
Barak, seconded by Clinton, has said the proposals aired at Camp David were no longer on the table.
But Arafat maintained Feb. 25, that "no government can write off what the previous government did."
"One thing should be clear: Israel will not negotiate under pressure of terror and violence," Sharon said at his joint news conference with the U.S. secretary of state.
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