Posted on 03/04/2002 12:30:28 PM PST by RCW2001
Powell endorses Mubarak summit proposal, says Arafat remains Palestinians' leader
BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
Monday, March 4, 2002
©2002 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/03/04/national1619EST0727.DTL
(03-04) 13:19 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --
Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed on Monday a proposal by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for an Israeli-Palestinian summit meeting.
Powell took up the proposition with Mubarak, who offered to play host to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. "It's an interesting idea," Powell said.
However, he said a decision ultimately was up to Sharon and Arafat.
At a brief news conference after talking to Javier Solana, the senior diplomat for the European Union, Powell said the situation in the Middle East was "terrible," with violence between Israel and the Palestinians escalating.
He said the Bush administration was redoubling its efforts to halt the strife and that a peace proposal by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was a positive development.
"All of us will look at this vision and see what we can do to make this vision a reality," Powell said.
Solana, who has been to the area, said he was very concerned about the fighting and the Europeans were determined to be helpful.
In that regard, Powell spoke by telephone over the weekend with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who has played a prominent role in European peacemaking efforts.
Powell said he still looked to Arafat to represent the Palestinians in any peacemaking. "He is seen by the Palestinians as their leader," Powell said.
Mubarak is urging caution in considering any attack on Iraq while supporting the U.S. campaign against terrorism. He had a series of high-level meetings on tap leading up to a White House session Tuesday with President Bush.
For three decades the United States has looked to Egypt for support in peacemaking. Mubarak's help is even more vital now because the region is in the throes of violence and many Arab governments consider the Bush administration tilted in Israel's favor, as many Egyptians privately do.
On Abdullah's peace proposal, an Arafat aide, Nabil Shaath, told The Associated Press by telephone from Jiddah that Abdullah had told him he would not present the proposal to an Arab summit unless Israeli restrictions on Arafat's movements are lifted.
Bush's assistant for national security, Condoleezza Rice, told Egypt TV last week that Arafat should break up terrorist organizations and arrest people involved in terrorism.
Mubarak generally supports Bush in the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism. He first called for an international conference on terrorism in 1986 and told The Washington Times that terrorists are still active in Afghanistan and have sleeper cells in the United States waiting to strike out.
Last week in Cairo, Mubarak said he had sent a message to Sharon offering to be host for a summit between the prime minister and Arafat.
The spokesman at the Israeli Embassy, Mark Regev, said Monday: "We support Egyptian proposals to stabilize the situation and bring about a cease-fire, but surely it is an illusion to believe a summit in itself can solve all our problems."
Regev added: "We've had countless summits with the Palestinian leadership since the beginning of the violence a year and a half ago and unfortunately those summits produced very little. We don't need talk, we need Palestinians to live up to their own commitments and to take concrete steps against the terrorists."
Arab governments have questioned whether Arafat can be expected to take strong measures against terror if his movements are restricted. A senior information adviser to Mubarak, Nabil Osman, raised such doubts in a meeting last week in Washington with American reporters.
Powell met with Mubarak for 45 minutes at Blair House, the presidential guest house across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. They made no statement afterward.
Egypt is aligned with the Arab League and Arab governments in trying to dissuade Bush from considering an attack against Iraq, which the president says is part of an "axis of evil."
The Bush administration considers Iraq a supporter of terrorism. Combined with President Saddam Hussein's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, it is high on the U.S. list of potential targets.
"He's a threat to his neighbors, to the world, to his own people," Rice said.
But, Rice said, "I can assure you the president has made no decision about the use of force against Iraq."
©2002 Associated Press
Is the Secretary of State subject to random drug testing?
Today might be a good day for it.
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