Powell: Meeting with Arafat was 'constructive'
By Herb Keinon, The Jerusalem Post Internet Staff
US Secretary of State Colin Powell concluded his meeting with PA Chairman Arafat a short time ago. Powell characterized the three-hour meeting as "useful and constructive."
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Powell meets Arafat in Ramallah
By Herb Keinon
(April 14) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell is meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat at this hour.
Powell entered Arafat's besieged West Bank headquarters surrounded by Israeli police and soldiers and American security.
In their delayed talks, Powell planned to press Arafat to take "effective action" to end Palestinian attacks against Israel.
They were meeting in a dining room, seated at a long table with the Palestinian and American aides
at their side.
Among those attending the meeting from the PA side were chief negotiators Saeb Erekat, Ahmed Qurei(Abu Ala), and Abu Mazen, PA Gaza Preventive Security Service chief Muhammad Dahlan, and senior official Muhammed Rashid.
Powell, carrying a sheaf of papers and bearing a serious expression, entered the compound in the embattled West Bank surrounded by helmeted US security personnel armed with submachine guns. He traveled the 12 miles (20 kilometers) from Jerusalem in a motorcade of six armored vans.
Powell said nothing to reporters as he entered Arafat's headquarters, a structure heavily damaged by Israeli shelling and gunfire. A gaping hole was torn in the blackened exterior wall of his compound, which was marked by bullet tracks.
Many buildings in the compound have been reduced to piles of rubble.
Powell was met by Saeb Erekat at the entrance to the structure.
Palestinian and foreign reporters were not allowed to cover the meeting.
Powell was originally slated to meet with Arafat yesterday, but postponed the meeting after the bombing, saying he wanted to hear a condemnation from Arafat.
Arafat later issued a condemnation of Friday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem, which said, "We strongly condemn all attacks targeting civilians from both sides, and especially the attack that took place against Israeli civilians in Jerusalem [Friday].
"We also condemn very strongly the massacre that was committed by the Israeli occupation troops against our refugees in Jenin and against our people in Ramallah, Nablus, and Tulkarm, and also the brutal aggression against the church in Bethlehem during the last two weeks."
A Foreign Ministry official dismissed the statement as meaningless, saying what is needed are deeds, not words.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher issued a statement after Arafat's condemnation, saying a Powell-Arafat meeting would take place this morning.
Boucher said Arafat's statement "contains a number of interesting and positive elements," including a condemnation of all terrorist acts against civilians; a strong condemnation of the Jerusalem bombing; a call to implement [the] Tenet and Mitchell plans; a reaffirmation of the Palestinian commitment to a negotiated peace; and support for Powell's mission.
Boucher said Powell, in his meeting with Arafat, will work with him and the Palestinian Authority leadership "to show leadership and to help make these statements a reality with effective action to bring an end to terror and violence and an early resumption of a political process."
Israeli diplomatic sources said one of the ideas Powell will bring to Arafat will be the convening of an international Madrid-type peace conference.
The sources said this idea was discussed in Powell's meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Friday. Israel's idea, according to the sources, is for the conference to take place after a cease-fire, to provide the much talked about "political horizon." The conference would not be able to impose a solution, the official stressed, and would use the Saudi proposal as a basis for negotiations.
Powell is slated to meet with President Moshe Katsav later today and with Sharon this evening.
Rather than meeting Arafat yesterday as planned, Powell met at the US consulate in east Jerusalem with clergymen and representatives of UNRWA and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
He then issued a statement calling on the IDF to "exercise the utmost restraint and discipline and refrain from the excessive use of force in the conduct of military operations to ensure that civilians are protected and to avoid worsening the already grave conditions inside Palestinian areas."
Meanwhile, tension rose around the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem early this morning after Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian, while more than 200 armed Palestinians remained inside the shrine.
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Saying the US is "deeply concerned about the serious humanitarian situation," Powell called on Israel to "respect international humanitarian principles and to allow full and unimpeded access to humanitarian organizations and services to provide basic humanitarian services, including evacuation of the wounded and deceased."
Powell pointed to the situation in Jenin as being of particular concern.
One Israeli official said the purpose of the statement was to "satisfy" the Arab world. He said the Palestinians and the Arab world are using what happened in Jenin to delegitimize Israel.
Powell said the US will contribute an additional $30 million to UNRWA's emergency programs, and that the US Agency for International Development is also providing $62m. in emergency aid to the PA.
Powell did not get a timetable for an IDF withdrawal in his meeting with Sharon.
"The prime minister has indicated his support for a process to move forward politically through his acceptance of the Mitchell Report, and we have talked about ways to move forward," Powell said during a press conference with Sharon.
"With respect to specific discussions on timetables and the like, we shared and exchanged views, and I look forward to further exchanges of views in the next couple of days, but don't have a specific answer on timing."
Powell said the US "welcomes" Israel's efforts "as part of [the] campaign against terrorism, and I know what a difficult time and situation this is for Israel. And as President [George W.] Bush has said on a number of occasions, especially in his speech on April 4, 'Terrorism is something that must be fought, must be destroyed.' But at the same time we recognize that eventually to reach the kind of solution that is needed, the parties must talk, the parties must begin negotiations. I am pleased that we have a mutual commitment to get to that point and find a political solution."
Asked why the US has the right to fight an unending war against terrorism in Afghanistan, while holding a stopwatch over Israel's same fight here, Powell responded, "We do understand what terrorism is, and as we have responded to terrorism, we know that Israel has a right to respond to terrorism. The question is how do we get beyond just the response? What is the next step? How do we get past that? And that has been the subject of our conversations this morning."
Sharon, in his introductory statement, said Israel "hopes to conclude this war very soon. Terror cannot coexist with peace. The terrorism of suicide bombers represents a danger for Israel and for the entire free world."
Following Powell's meeting with Sharon, and then with the expanded security cabinet, he met with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
He then went with Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer on a helicopter tour of the North and was briefed on the situation on the Lebanese border. Just as he was to take off, he was told of the suicide bombing attack in Jerusalem, and his helicopter hovered momentarily above the site of the attack.
Powell will travel to Damascus on Tuesday and meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Powell will reportedly bring up the issue of continuing Hizbullah attacks along Israel's border with Lebanon, according to senior Administration sources |
