Cover Story/Searching For Peace
Getting Into The Fray
Powell puts burden on Palestinians in strong statement of U.S. policy.
MATTHEW E. BERGER
duce a peace deal.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New
York and Washington, the Bush administration
has placed a much greater emphasis on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, perceiving it as a
threat to the stability of the international coali-
tion in America's war on terror.
Powell called on Palestinians to end violence
immediately and said they should be held
accountable when they don't live up to signed
agreements.
"Palestinians need to understand that how-
ever legitimate their claims, they cannot be
heard, let alone be addressed, through vio-
lence," Powell said. "As President Bush has
made clear, no national aspiration, no remem-
bered wrong can ever justify the deliberate
murder of the innocent. Terror and violence
must stop, and stop now."
Powell also called on Israel to end all settle-
._
ment activity, road closures and occupation of
Palestinian territory, for the first time describ-
ing Israel as an "occupying power." Yet he did
P. not appear to give those issues the same imme-
diacy as he did to Palestinian responsibilities.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Washington
ecretary of State Colin Powell is
winning cautious support for a
Mideast policy speech that sig-
nals reinvigorated American par-
ticipation in the Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict and outlines a vague agenda for
returning to peace talks.
Delivered Monday at the University of
Louisville in Kentucky, Powell's speech
did not set forth any bold new initiatives
or go into details on troublesome issues,
such as the future of Jerusalem.
Contrary to expectations, however,
Powell appeared to put less pressure on
Israel than on the Palestinian Authority.
Jewish analysts and activists alike said
Powell had placed the immediate burden
on the Palestinian Authority to stop vio-
lence and incitement.
The speech also laid down a general
road map for what Israel and the
Palestinian Authority must do to restore
trust and return to the negotiating table
— but avoided-several contentious issues
that could have angered each party
"A majority of the land mines were side-
stepped," a senior Israeli official said.
S
Pointing The Way
Secretary of State Colin Powell adjusts the microphones while making a
speech at the University of Louisville on Monday.
Cautious Support
For the most'part, U.S. Jewish leaders welcomed
Powell's speech with apprehensive enthusiasm.
"It has potential," said Tom Smerling, Washington
director of the Israel Policy Forum. "It laid ground
work for something significant to happen, but it is
not going to happen because of this speech."
To succeed, Smerling said, any initiative would
need a stamp of approval from President George W.
Bush and a day-by-day assessment of which side is
keeping its promises.
American Jewish leaders emphasized the pressure
Powell placed on Palestinian Authority leader Yasser
Arafat to control violence.
"Powell has made clear that the key to peace is in
the hands of the Palestinians, who must make every
effort to bring all acts of terror against Israelis to a
complete halt," said Howard Kohr, executive direc-
tor of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
However, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chair-
man of the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations, said he was con-
cerned that Powell appeared to express a "moral
equivalency" between Israeli and Palestinian actions.
Related editorial: The 95 Percent Solution, page 31
11/23
2001
14
"There was no mention of who walked away"
from the peace process "last year," Hoenlein said,
referring to Palestinian rejection of an Israeli peace
offer at the Camp David summit and the subse-
quent launching of a year-long campaign of vio-
lence.
Morton Klein, national director of the Zionist
Organization of America, called Powell's speech
"deeply disappointing," noting that America practi-
cally is recognizing a Palestinian state and asking
Israel to make concessions before it sees any real
change from the Palestinian leadership.
'At what point will the U.S. administration
understand that Arafat isn't interested in creating a
civilized society?" Klein asked.
New Initiative
Powell's address is seen as the _starting point for
renewed U.S. involvement in the peace process, with
the appointment of a new envoy for the region who
will try to hammer out a more lasting cease fire.
Powell also. reversed Bush administration policy on
U.S. engagement, savina that America would
"push," "prod" and ‘present
b
ideas" to move the
process forward — a marked departure from the
detachment Bush initially showed after the Clinton
administration's vigorous involvement failed to pro-
The administration's goals are to put the
regional conflict in context, give it a sense of
direction and provide principles for ending
violence 'and other activities on the ground.
The emphasis is on getting the two sides to imple-
ment already agreed-to steps, including a process to
get back to negotiations authored by former Sen.
George Mitchell and details for a cease-fire brokered
by CIA Director George Tenet.
Drawing on those plans, the speech provided
inducements that Israeli and Palestinian leaders can
use to justify a return to negotiations, while preserv-
ing their political prestige.
"Both sides can take - the speech as a reference
point on how we are trying to take their needs into
account," one senior Bush administration official
said.
For the Palestinians, Powell reiterated American
support for a Palestinian state and the promise of
economic support. Echoing President Bush's land-
mark statement at the United Nations last week,
Powell again used the name "Palestine" for the envi-
sioned state. "That's an official piece of the new
American-vocabulary" the administration official
said.
In a nod toward Israel, Powell stressed the need to
maintain Israel's character as a Jewish state — an
oblique rejection of Palestinian demands for
refugees' "right of return" — and as a secure country
not threatened by Arab violence.
GETTING INTO THE FRAY on page 18