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| Middle East |
| Powell rules out contacts with Arafat |
| 2002-07-05 |
| U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell reasserted Washington's position it would no longer deal with Yasser Arafat and said U.S. officials had embarked on a diplomatic effort to bring reluctant Europeans on board. Powell told Reuters he would soon meet fellow members of a "quartet" of Middle East peacemakers, and Arab leaders, for fresh talks aimed at ending 21 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The envoys are expected to address differences between the United States and its European and Arab allies over Arafat's future. The nursing home or... where? Powell maintained the United States was not trying to dictate to other countries involved in peacemaking but said if they wanted to talk to Arafat they should deliver the same message as President Bush did. "This requires some change in the way that we're doing business and until we see that, we don't think we can work with the current leadership of Chairman Arafat," Powell said. That's diplospeak for "fugeddaboudit." I'm so proud...! |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |