ArafatPowell Meeting Ends Catastrophically, Powell, However, Remains Hopeful

17/04/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: 'Both Sides Must Compromise-Powell
Arafat Trembling with Anger.
Arafat & Sharon Score Points With Washington
Powell Mubarak Meeting Cancelled.
Read photo caption Within

STORY: - The 2nd meeting between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and US secretary Colin Powell which lasted 2 hours has ended catastrophically with Powell leaving with a grim face and Arafat briefly showing up trembling with anger saying, "Is this acceptable, that I cannot go beyond this door. That the Israeli occupation remains in place despite a UN resolution demanding that it should immediately withdraw? Is what happening at the Church of Nativity acceptable? Is the reoccupation of Palestinian cities and towns acceptable?". Arafat said he was directing these questions to President Bush and to the entire international community.

At a press conference in Jerusalem at the end of the meeting, Powell said the question addressed to the international community now is what is it that it can do to bridge the gap between the two antagonists to induce them to solve their differences peacefully.

Speaking on Jazeera Satellite station a few minutes later, Palestinian foreign minister, Yasser Abed Rebbo described the ending as catastrophic adding that Powell has failed to provide a concrete Israeli commitment to withdraw from Palestinian territory it has reoccupied over the past 17 days. He added that Powell has come up with demands that the Palestinian authority under the prevailing circumstances will never be able to meet.

POWELL'S JERUSALEM PRESS CONFERENCE

In a press conference, in Jerusalem, Powell said that both sides will have to compromise and that speaking of a ceasefire at this moment is irrelevant. To help the two sides to compromise, Powell said that US Mideast envoy; Anthony Zinni and other US mediators will remain in the region. Striving to play a fair hand, Powell said he would not meet again with Sharon and that he will brief him on his encounter with Arafat by phone.

Powell said Israel's on going offensive and the building of settlements in occupied territories are obstructing the peace process but, he added, so are the bombing attacks by the Palestinians.

SHARON & ARAFAT SEPARATELY SCORE POINTS WITH WASHINGTON

Commenting on Powell's remarks, analysts said, in the middle of what they called Powell's middle mission in the Middle East both Sharon and Arafat have scored points with Washington each to his own side.

Sharon, they said had managed to carry on with his brutal offensive during and after the Powell Mission. Arafat, for his part, they said, has managed to abort Sharon's personal attack on him, which led to branding the Palestinian leader as an enemy, and as such is 'irrelevant' as a partner in search for peace in the region. Sharon, the sources maintain, meant to drag Powell and with him the White House to his assessment of Arafat. Powell, they say, put it very bluntly during his Jerusalem press conference that there is no substitute to the elected leader of the Palestinian people.

Powell, who also is trying to expand Israel's limited withdrawal from the West Bank, was flying home later in the day after a meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that has now been scrapped. Powell will instead meet with his Egyptian, Saudi and Jordanian counterparts in the Egyptian capital.

INCURSIONS CONTINUE

In Bethlehem, heavy gunfire could be heard near the Church of the Nativity on Tuesday evening, with flares and gray smoke visible over the compound. The Israeli army confirmed sporadic gunfire exchanges but said its forces had not entered the compound, where Palestinian Resistance men have been holed up for two weeks.

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli forces moved into a West Bank town and three villages near Jerusalem and imposed curfews as part of a high-security alert timed to Israel's Independence Day.

Palestinians condemned the new incursions, but Powell has tempered his public calls for a total and quick pullout now that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced a pullout from all but Ramallah and Bethlehem within a week.
In any event, Israeli officials said the withdrawal would not preclude efforts to arrest Fuad Shobaki, whom they accused of overseeing attacks on Israel and the abortive shipment of 50 tons of Iranian weapons to the Palestinians.

And, the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they remained determined to arrest the plotters of the assassination last October of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi.

PHOTO CAPTION:

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell speaks during a meeting with prominent local Palestinian business and academic leaders at a Jerusalem hotel Tuesday, April 16, 2002. Powell has had his second encounter with Arafat in Ramallah which Palestinians say has ended catastrophically. A meeting between Powell and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on his way back to Washington has been scrapped and he is now to meet with his Egyptian, Saudi and Jordanian counterparts in the Egyptian capital later Wednesday. (AP Photo/ZOOM 7