Visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell urged both Israel and the Palestinians Sunday to halt violence, and said US President George W. Bush would be taking a "strong role" in the peace process, according to AFP.
Powell’s remarks came during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister elect Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem.
"I think we all need to work hard, all sides, to bring the violence under control, get out of this terrible cycle where we have violence, counter violence," Powell said.
He added he was "disturbed" by a report from the Israeli army that said the level of violence had been escalating.
"It's a very dangerous situation," he added, saying "all leaders in the region must do everything possible to control passions."
"Of course the United States cannot want peace more than the parties and cannot make the hard choices ... but President Bush plans to take a strong role," Powell added.
For his part, Sharon said that he told Powell he was committed to peace but that he would only resume negotiations when violence ends, said the agency.
"As prime minister, I will conduct negotiations with the PA (Palestinian Authority) following the cessation of hostilities," Sharon said at a joint press conference with Powell following a meeting in Jerusalem.
"I presented to Secretary Powell my commitment and plans to achieve security and peace," he said.
"I stressed the point that the Palestinian Authority must take immediate action to stop acts of terror and violence."
A reduction in the levels of violence would "enable us to achieve better relations with the Palestinian Authority."
Sharon added that he had outlined to Powell the steps he would be prepared to take if calm is restored to "ease the economic conditions of the Palestinian people."
On Saturday night, Powell held a 45-meeting with outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
He is due later to hold talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to discuss ways of reviving stalled negotiations.
Barak urged Powell to press Arafat to quell the bloodletting that has raged across the region for five months or "pay the price," reported Haaretz newspaper.
"The prime minister insisted that the United States present unequivocal conditions to Arafat: a reduction in the violence, the fight against terror, a monopoly on the use of weapons and the cessation of incitement, this if Arafat wishes to belong to the family of nations," Barak's office said in a statement.
"The world must make it clear to Arafat that if he does not change his modes of behavior, he will pay the price for it," the statement added.
Barak reiterated his position that ideas raised during previous negotiations with the Palestinians were "null and void and do not obligate the next government," said Haaretz.
In Cairo, Powell urged Arabs to help contain Iraq, but met an apparent rejection from Egypt which said it felt no threat from Baghdad.
Powell offered no comfort on what most Arabs outside the Gulf see as a far more direct menace from Israel, the next stop on the US official's whirlwind Middle East tour, according to Reuters.
"It's (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein, who refuses to abandon his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"He threatens not the United States, he threatens this region, he threatens the Arab people, he threatens the children of Egypt, the children of Saudi Arabia, the children of Kuwait with these weapons," Powell was quoted by the agency as saying.
But Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, who has orchestrated better ties with Iraq recently, said Cairo did not see there was a danger from Baghdad, reported Reuters.
"For us, I don't see that threat," Moussa told a joint news conference with Powell. "But if you ask the Gulf region, some countries over there, they would continue to feel that (threat) and they say it publicly," he said.
However, Powell said that ten-year-old United Nations sanctions on Iraq should be under constant review to ensure they do not harm the Iraqi people.
"We should constantly be reviewing our policy, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they address towards" their purpose, Powell said after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
At the presser, the Egyptian minister argued that the sanctions in their present form were hurting Iraq's people, not its leadership.
According to AFP, a senior US official told reporters traveling with Powell en route from Egypt to Israel said Moussa's public comments had echoed those of Mubarak's in private.
Mubarak "talked about coordination and cooperation: those were his concerns," the official said, referring to the airstrikes which came as a surprise to Washington's moderate Arab allies, said the agency.
The official said Mubarak had expressed deep reservations about some of the UN sanctions because of their effect on Iraqi civilians but had agreed with their ultimate purpose: to prevent Baghdad from becoming a greater threat.
Moussa meanwhile was quoted by AFP as saying he believed the Powell had understood Egyptian popular "unhappiness" with the recent US and British air strikes around Baghdad.
The same anger was behind protests in the Palestinian lands, Beirut and Amman.
In the West Bank village of al-Khader, near Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers shot and wounded nine Palestinians in clashes that erupted after the funeral of a Palestinian killed by troops on Friday. About 5,000 mourners cried out for revenge.
The agency said that in the West Bank city of Nablus, hundreds of Palestinians attended a pro-Iraq rally, burning photographs of Bush and Powell and chanting "Stop the British and American aggression," a reference to the latest air raids near Baghdad.
In Jenin, pro-Iraqi protesters set fire to pictures of Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Meanwhile in Beirut, hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians carrying pictures of Arafat and Saddam Hussein staged a rally against US, Britain and Israel, said reports.
According to Reuters, Palestinians, furious at the latest US air attacks on Iraq, fear the Bush administration will side with Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon's demand that a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation end before peace negotiations resume.
Powell said it was vital to put a lid on the violence, restore dialogue, revive economic activity and resume security cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians, said the agency.
In Amman, AFP reported, one thousand Jordanian opposition supporters demonstrated Saturday to voice their support for Iraq and condemn Powell's tour of the region.
Angry demonstrators chanted anti-Powell slogans, calling him a "war criminal". They torched an Israeli flag and shouted their support to President Saddam Hussein and to the Palestinian movement Hamas.
Powell is expected in Amman Sunday, before he leaves for Kuwait to take part of the country's celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the Iraqi troops pullback after a coalition of 30 countries led by the US attacked the Iraqi army following its 1990 invasion of its neighbor - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
