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Posted on 12/09/2001 7:17:45 AM PST by TheOtherOne

Powell Calls On Palestinians To Question Their Leaders

11:04 ET
Dow Jones International News
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

MOSCOW (AP)--The latest suicide bombing in Israel and continuing violence are "destroying" Yasser Arafat's credibility and should lead Palestinians to seriously question where their leaders are trying to take them, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday.

"This leads nowhere," Powell told reporters as he flew to Moscow from the Central Asian republic of Kazakstan.

Both Powell and Vice President Dick Cheney in Washington said the continuing violence raises fresh questions about the Arafat's ability to exercise control.

The violence by Palestine terrorist groups "is destroying his authority and credibility," Powell said.

"They will not push Israel into the sea. So they will not be successful if that is their goal," he said of the Palestinian terrorists.

Cheney said that, "until Arafat demonstrates that he is serious about suicide attackers, there won't be progress. They are led by someone who can't control terrorists."

He added, "It's not surprising given that level of violence and those repeated attacks that the Israelis take steps to defend themselves. They have a right to do so."

In addition to the latest suicide bombing, five Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops and 30 suspected militants detained in Israeli raids on two West Bank villages.

"We have seen both sides pursuing courses of action that have not gained Israel ny additional security and have not moved us toward a peace process," Powell said.

But, he added, "I think the burden right now is on Mr. Arafat to do more to get the violence down to zero."

Powell said he was "distressed" to learn about the fresh round of violence. "The Palestinian people ought to asking their leaders, 'Where does this take us?"'

"Whether it is Hamas or one of the other organizations, they need to understand that this leads nowhere ... so I condemn this action and I once again encourage both sides to do everything necessary to get violence down to zero."

"You can't put it all on Mr. Arafat," he added. "There's a leader of Hamas. There are leaders of all these organizations. And all of them bear responsibility for what is happening and all bear responsibility for doing something about it.

1604GMT

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