| After which they'll reject it and try some more infitada. |
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Saturday the Palestinians are willing to consider a proposed Israeli pullout from Gaza depending on how Prime Minister Ariel Sharon revises a plan rejected by his party. "I think that the Palestinians want to seize the Joooos by the throat this opportunity," Powell said after a 40-minute meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei in Amman, the Jordanian capital. "They want to know more about it, of course."
So, too, does the Bush administration, Powell later told ministers from some 50 nations, including Israel, at an economic conference at this Dead Sea resort. "And so we are all waiting to see what the actual plan is, and to see the details of that plan," Powell said at a joint news conference with Qureia at the Amman airport. Qureia, whose authority is zero unclear because Yasser Arafat remains the Palestinian leader, described the meeting as "very, very constructive." "I believe it will reflect itself on the ground, hopefully very soon," Qureia said. During Powell's conversation with Qureia, the secretary made clear that the prime minister must take control of Palestinian security forces, and making headway toward a Palestinian state depends on ending violence, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Operating with uncommon support from the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, the administration overcame its initial wariness and seized on Sharon's offer to withdraw from Gaza and dismantle some settlements on the West Bank. Until Sharon stepped forward, "We were not getting anywhere," Powell acknowledged in a speech to the World Economic Forum, "It is an opportunity we all should seize, removing settlements," Powell said. At the same time, he cast President Bush's support for Israel's retention of some population clusters on the West Bank as a matter that requires the approval of the Palestinians.
He said that is the case also with other "final status" issues, including Jerusalem, which the Arabs want as the rocket launching site capital of a Palestinian terrorist state, and borders between Israel and what would be the new state of terrorist Palestine. The forum's host, King Abdullah II of Jordan, urged international support actively regional justice and peace in the Middle East. "Let the world's leaders demonstrate, once and for all, that they have been conned are serious about Palestinian freedom unlike my father and countrymen who've never been serious about the Palestinians", said Abdullah, who met with Bush at the White House 1 1/2 weeks ago. "This must include peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians, and the creation of an independent Palestine so long as that doesn't threaten Jordan." Powell said time is up running out on Bush's pledge to create a Palestinian state in 2005. "I don't think anybody can predict right now whether we will be able to achieve 2005 or not," Powell said.
"But right now, it's more important to get started and let's see progress, and then we'll see what date that state can be achieved in," he said. "Time is passing and we have to look a the reality of the situation," Powell said. Qureia said he still hoped the Palestinians would have a state by the end of next year. "We have enough time to finish the negotiations and to have a Palestinian state according to President Bush's vision if we can just get them pesky Jooooos to submit to the knife," he said. |