Posted on 05/15/2004 11:11:53 AM PDT by yonif
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Saturday urged Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia to "seize the opportunity" of a proposed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as a first step toward statehood next year.
Powell also said time is running out on President George W. Bush's pledge to create a Palestinian state in 2005. "I don't think anyone can predict" whether that timetable will be met, Powell said after a 40-minute meeting with Qureia.
Qureia said the Palestinian leadership wanted to see exactly what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would propose.
"We are waiting to see what the plan is and to see the details of it," Qureia said after the meeting with Powell at the Jordanian capital's airport. Powell had just landed after an overnight flight from the United States.
Qureia said the talks were "very, very constructive." Appearing more upbeat than Powell on the prospects for statehood, Qureia said, "We have time to finish negotiations and to have a state by 2005."
Before the meeting Qureia confirmed a report by the official Jordanian news agency saying that he would propose a cease-fire with Israel during his meeting with Powell, Israel Radio reported.
The Jordanian news agency quoted Qureia as saying after talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher that he would propose a cease-fire and the immediate start of negotiations between the two sides.
In a diplomatic double-team, Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, plans to meet with Qureia in Berlin on Monday.
Bush said recently that carrying out his vision of establishing a Palestinian state next year through negotiations with Israel "may be hard since 2005 is right around the corner."
Nevertheless, I do think we ought to push hard as fast as possible to get a state in place," he said in an interview earlier this month with editors of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram.
Having proposed 2005 as the date two years ago, Bush said, "I readily concede the date has slipped some."
The president cited violence as a reason. "I think the timetable of 2005 isn't as realistic as it was two years ago," Bush said, according to a White House transcript of the interview.
Sharon's Likud Party vetoed his withdrawal plan in a May 2 referendum. The prime minister says he is determined to find a different forum for approval for the initiative.
The plan would have meant the evacuation of soldiers and 7,500 settlers from the coastal strip, representing a turnaround for Sharon who had championed settlement expansion.
The pullback was to be part of Sharon's plan of "unilateral disengagement" from the Palestinians, to reduce friction and draw a border in the West Bank.
A poll published Friday in Israel's Yediot Ahronot daily showed a sharp rise in support for Sharon's plan for a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
After the meeting, Powell headed to join Arab and other Palestinian officials at an economic conference at a Dead Sea resort.
Palestinians, with support from Arab and European governments, are pressing for a much bigger withdrawal than Sharon proposed, even though his plan would include some settlements on the West Bank.
But Powell said in an interview with Al Arabiya, an Arab television network, released on Friday before his departure, that he hoped "whatever disappointment existed is behind them, and they can now see the opportunities."
Sympathizing with Arab goals, Powell said the evacuation of settlements "is what we have been after for a long time."
Terrorism pays.
Let 'em have their "state"--the better to starve to death, which is what they'll do without the IsraeliJews to prop them up. Sharon cannot continue to defend Israeli settlers floating in a sea of Arab murderers.
Israel is a country with 5 million people which is floating in a sea of Arab murderers.
The whole idea of a timetable is absurd unless the United States is ready to impose one with all the force necessary to institute a state and maintain it.
Giving these Arabs a state will reward them for their murder and terrorism.
Indeed--but the settlers in Gaza are far too easy pickings--
No argument there.The only rational solution should have been applied in 67. All the Palies should be pushed into Jordan and the Sinai and the order rationalized.
Most of the murders of Israelis occur inside the Green line in places such as Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem and not at the "settlments"
That is because the pallies only want a ONE STATE SOLUTION FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA...
an islamic, jew killing, christian murdering, theocracy headed by their demon god, who should already have been killed LONG LONG AGO... arafat.
pallies don't want their own state.
they want Israel.
WHAT the HELL are we thinking. (Israel and George Bush)
I can support a two state solution: just so that Israel has some place to attack OFFICIALLY whenever the next atrocity in Israel is perpetrated.... followed by eradication and a formal annexation of what will then be a former arab state.
But what I could really get behind is the complete transfer of pallies by force... and total annexation of the whole region... NOW.
Why waste money on a wall?
Would it not be simpler to use the river for the dividing line of DEATH.
Why am I having a problem with Colin Powell's remarks? Sometimes I just don't trust the guy.
It sounds like he's setting Bush up for a fall. When 2005 rolls around, these animals will still be screaming Allahu Akhbar as they murder people. There is no way that they will cooperate with anyone, unless it is to the detriment of Israel.
Yep, it will all be Bush's fault...
What should happen is Israel walling herself completely around. Free up soldiers to heavily guard the coastline and patrol the waters.
What will the Arabs who depend on work inside of Israeli territory do then? The Palestinians are not evolved enough to shut up, put down their guns, and start building a nation and an economy.
Let's not forget the billions Arafat has stashed away. Once Israel finally isolates herself from the barbarians, they will turn on Arafat...watch and see.
One more thing. Is it actually plausible that Israel can completely wall off her borders?
See #15. I like what you're saying, but we're dealing with troglodytes. There is a reason that in medieval times, towns had walls around them.
I like what you said about having an offical state that Israel can attack.
See the problem is the UN, and the fact that the US seems incapable of addressing this issue properly. The UN will thwart any kind of measures that benefits Israel. Hence a wall, and an announcement that the Palestinians now have their own country. They can sit and whine, scream, and shoot guns off unsafely in crowded streets.
See, if the Pali's had even evolved to the 15th century they would have started building a sustainable economy, infrastructure improvements, and a farming industry. They already have land, but they choose to live in ghettos as close to Israel as possible.
Their blind hatred for Israel is their reason for getting up in the morning. What the hell can you do with people like that?
Yonif, Shabbat Shalom.
As Moshe Dayan stated, "The Arabs will never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
What the hell can you do with people like that?
We know. We just can't say.
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