Powell on crucial peace-keeping mission to Middle East

11.45am

WASHINGTON - Hours before leaving on a crucial peace-seeking mission to the Middle East, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell said he may meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, but cautioned that he might not return with a ceasefire deal.

Appearing on Sunday news talk shows, Powell said he spoke early in the day with Israeli President Ariel Sharon who understands US President George W Bush's desire for a halt to its incursions into Palestinian lands but did not offer a timeframe for withdrawing from its military sweep of the West Bank.

On Fox News Sunday, Powell said he hoped Sharon had taken Bush's "injunction very much to heart and will speed this up and start to withdraw, as President Bush said, without delay. And he means now".

Bush told the Israeli prime minister in a telephone call on Saturday from his central Texas ranch to pull back "without delay", warning that the success of the US-led peace mission was at stake.

Fighting continued despite Bush's admonition and the Israeli army said on Sunday it had killed more than 30 armed Palestinians in close combat in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Bush's national security advisor, Condoleeza Rice, appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, said the administration understands Israel's military mobilisation cannot be reversed instantly. But she said, "The important point is to begin now, without delay. Not tomorrow, not when Secretary Powell gets to the region, but now."

Rice said the "dynamic on the ground is terrible", and noted that Bush spoke on Thursday because he felt the situation was "at a tipping point, either of getting back on track for a peace accord or a spiral downward".

Bush announced on Thursday he was sending Powell to the Middle East to revive ceasefire talks, marking a dramatic policy shift after widespread criticism that Washington was doing too little to check the escalating violence.

By doing so, Washington greatly raised its own stakes in the crisis, but Powell played down prospects for quick results.

He said on NBC he did not expect to leave the Middle East with a peace treaty in hand, adding, "I'm not even sure I'll have a ceasefire in hand".

On Fox, Powell said he would "be absolutely delighted and very pleased if we are able to get a ceasefire in place in the not-too-distant future".

"If we have brought the violence down, if we have started to create a dialogue again between the two sides, then my trip will have been worth the energy that I'm going to put into it and the effort we're going to put into it," he said.

Powell was due to leave this morning. He will meet with leaders of several key Arab countries, as well as with European allies, Sharon, and possibly with Arafat to try to stop the bloodshed that has worsened in recent weeks with a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings.

The suicide attacks prompted Israel to move its forces into Palestinian cities sparking sometimes fierce fighting.

Powell said he would stops in Morocco, Egypt and Spain and then continue to the region toward the week's end, probably to Jerusalem.

Powell said he would meet with Arafat, who is confined to his compound by Israeli soldiers in the occupied city of Ramallah, "if circumstances permit".

On CNN, he said access to Arafat, security and other issues would determine if he meets face to face with the Palestinian leader, but said they have had telephone conversations.

He also repeated that Arafat must do more to oppose the violence and call off the suicide bombing missions.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher, who is speaking out about the conflict on behalf of Arab nations, said Israel must allow Powell to meet with Arafat.

"It would be really absurd to meet with all the parties to the conflict without meeting with Yasser Arafat," Muasher said on CBS. "We have to see a committed United States, not just to end the security situation, but to start the political process that would end in ending the occupation."

On NBC's Meet the Press, Powell stressed that the administration believes Israel has a right to defend itself, but "the manner in which they have gone about defending themselves in this operation opens us up to new instabilities and new insecurities and new threats in the long term for Israel and for the region".

- REUTERS

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