In a telecast to the Arab world, Secretary of State Colin Powell called on Wednesday for an end to the intifada, the five-year violent Palestinian uprising against Israel. "What has it accomplished for the Palestinian people?" Powell asked. "Has it produced progress toward a Palestinian state? Has it defeated Israel on the battlefield? So it is time to end this process. It is time to end the intifada." At he same time, Powell said President Bush desperately wants to help create a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people to live side-by-side in peace with Israel. "This will only come about when terror is ended," he said. "And the intifada has spawned terrorism and it has not achieved anything in these years." In the meantime, Powell said, the economy of the Palestinian people has deteriorated as well as life in general for the Palestinians, while Israel has built a fence to screen out attackers. "It has stopped us from being able to move forward with the many peace plans that we have put forward," he said.
Powell again criticized Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, for not yielding authority to Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia so Qureia can organize Palestinian security forces to end terror. And Powell criticized Israel, saying Bush has concerns about its settlement activity and not destroying all outposts on the West Bank. But when the interviewer suggested Powell was blaming the Palestinians and supporting "the occupier," Israel, he bristled. "Who are the victims?" he replied. "The victims are those who are being blown up by bombs." Israel has had to protect itself by going after individuals they believe are responsible for terror attacks, Powell said. "And so, there are victims on all sides of this question," he said. |