The West Bank and Gaza Strip are locked down Monday ahead of Israel's national election, as the Israeli polices warned that some Palestinian groups may try to carry out attacks during the voting.
The Israeli military said it was completely sealing the West Bank and Gaza Strip for three days to prevent Palestinian groups from sabotaging Tuesday's election. Stringent travel bans have been enforced since the outbreak of fighting in September 2000, and the new restrictions mean all Palestinians are confined to their towns and unable to enter Israel.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that the creation of a "democratic, viable" Palestinian state is possible in 2005 if the Palestinians "clamp down on terrorism."
He repeated the US call for new Palestinian leaders and said Israel must contribute to peace by offering the Palestinians more than "a phony state that's diced into a thousand different pieces."
"To achieve this vision, the Palestinians must build trust by establishing a new and different leadership...and by putting an end to all terror and violence," he said.
"Israel will also be required to build trust by easing the economic plight of ordinary Palestinians and by putting an end to settlement construction," he conveyed.
In response to a question from the audience after the speech, Powell said the United States and others must do everything they can to "put in place a (Palestinian) leadership that is responsible, with representative institutions of government that will clamp down on terrorism."
"We also have to say to our Israeli friends that you have to do more to deal with the humanitarian conditions of the Palestinian people and you have to understand that a Palestinian state must be a real state, not a phony state that's diced into a thousand different pieces," he added.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, one of more than 1,000 global leaders crowded into the congress center to hear Powell's speech, praised the reference to a "real" Palestine.
"This is a very, very positive statement about the nature of the Palestinian state and a serious message to Israel," he told The Associated Press.
"Playing games and gimmicks with the notion of a state is not sustainable. This is very, very important." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
