'Man of peace' tag angers Palestinians

United States President George W. Bush again threw US support behind Israel yesterday, calling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a "man of peace" as aid workers picked through the rubble of his Army's attack on the West Bank.

Palestinian officials condemned the remarks as a reward for Sharon's "war crimes" as the troubled Middle East appeared no closer to a truce despite an intensive peace mission by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, meanwhile, asked the UN Security Council to consider sending an armed multinational force to help to end the violence.

"I do believe Ariel Sharon is a man of peace," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office as he was briefed by Powell on his Middle East tour.

Bush said Sharon was on schedule for pulling back his troops and that Powell could not resolve the decades-old conflict in one peace trip.

"But one trip from the Secretary of State laid out the framework and the path to achieve peace."

After six days spent shuttling between Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Powell told reporters as he left Jerusalem that there was a schedule for the pullback, but gave no specifics.

"He gave me a timetable and he's met the timetable," the US President said.

Annan yesterday appealed for the deployment of an international armed force in Palestinian areas as the only way to stop the bloodletting.

He urged the Security Council to pursue the option of a "robust" force, often advocated by Palestinians, rather than wait for an invitation from Israel.

But diplomats said nothing would happen unless the United States took the lead, which it has not done or even considered.

Diplomats said Annan was pushing the idea to get the US to consider it seriously.

Since Israel launched a sweep of Palestinian towns and refugee camps on March 29 in search of suicide bombers, Annan has grown increasingly critical of Sharon, who has not replied to his letters.

Annan called on Israel to allow humanitarian workers full access to the devastated Jenin refugee camp, describing the situation there as horrific.

The Israeli Army said yesterday it had pulled out of Jenin and the West Bank city's refugee camp."Israeli forces completed their mission in Jenin," the Army said in a statement.

"The forces which began leaving the city are now encircling the city and the refugee camp to prevent and thwart terrorist activity and the passage of terrorists into Israel."

A Reuters correspondent in Jenin confirmed that Israeli armour and troops had taken up new positions on its outskirts. The Palestinians claim around 500 people were massacred in Jenin, many of them women and children, and that some were summarily executed after surrendering.

"The international community and the press believe these lies and don't ask for proof from the Palestinians. Where is the proof?" asked Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir. "There was devastation but there was no massacre."

Annan said he would approve of an investigation but his priority was to help survivors.

Arab nations were pressing for a Security Council vote on a resolution that the US would veto in its present form.

The draft calls on Israel to withdraw from West Bank towns and immediately end its siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah.

The US usually opposes Security Council resolutions on the Arab-Israeli conflict, but in the past month it has softened language on three draft resolutions and then voted for them rather than use its veto power and risk further inflaming tensions in the Arab world.

Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said troops would leave the towns of Nablus and parts of Ramallah by Monday, but would stay at Arafat's compound in Ramallah and at the Bethlehem church until deadlocks over militants ended.

Yesterday, Israeli tanks rolled about 200m into the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip and opened fire with heavy machineguns, killing a 38-year-old man, Palestinian witnesses and officials said.

The Gaza Strip has been mostly quiet during the offensive in the West Bank. An Israeli military source said Israeli forces had been conducting a routine operation when they were attacked with grenades and gunfire, and shot back.

Palestinian officials said a 9-year-old boy was killed yesterday in the town of Beitunia, near Ramallah, when Israeli soldiers fired at several houses. The Army had no comment.

Powell has pledged to return to the region, in another sign that the Bush Administration is abandoning its previous hands-off approach.

The Palestinian Authority released a statement after Powell's departure accusing Israel of avoiding all chances to achieve peace and of sabotaging the US initiative.

In Nablus, Palestinians buried 35 people killed by Israeli troops. Anan al-Qadri, emergency services co-ordinator, said 13 were buried in a mass grave and the rest individually.

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Feature: Middle East

Map

History of conflict

UN: Information on the Question of Palestine

Israel's Permanent Mission to the UN

Palestine's Permanent Observer Mission to the UN

Middle East Daily

Arabic News

Arabic Media Internet Network

Jerusalem Post

Haaretz Daily

US Department of State - Middle East Peace Process