JERUSALEM--Secretary of State Colin Powell's separate meetingswith Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon on Sunday failed to produce acease-fire as Palestinian leaders pressed first for a completeIsraeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank.
Powell's long day of shuttle diplomacy took him to Arafat'sbesieged headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah for a 21/2hour meeting and then to Tel Aviv for his second visit in two dayswith Israeli Prime Minister Sharon.
Powell makes a day trip today to Beirut and Damascus to urge theleaders of Lebanon and Syria to use their influence to preventLebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas from opening another front on Israel'snorthern border that could spawn a regional conflict.
Israel claims that Hezbollah is controlled by Syria and isresponsible for shellings of northern Israel.
Arafat has been holed up in virtual captivity at his Ramallahcompound since the end of March, when Israel launched the militaryincursion into the West Bank and sought to isolate the PalestinianAuthority chairman after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at aPassover Seder in Netanya.
Emerging from the meeting in the war-torn city, Powell said he hada useful and constructive exchange'' that will continue between teamsof staff members again today.
Meanwhile, Israel put on the table offers to Palestinian fighterswho have been trapped in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, oneof Christianity's holiest sites.
The gunmen--estimated by Israel to number 200--would get safepassage to exit, providing they agree to be permanently expelled fromIsrael or to stand trial in Israel, an offer likely to be rebuffed byPalestinian leaders.
Another proposal announced Sunday by Sharon at a Cabinet meetingcalled for a new international conference to discuss various MiddleEast political proposals with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordanand Palestinian representatives--with the exclusion of Arafat andonce a cease-fire is in place.
The Jerusalem Post is reporting in today's edition that Sharonsaid, This idea is acceptable to the U.S., and I estimate that withina short period of time this conference will convene, and deal withpolitical solutions in the Middle East and regional development."
Arafat expressed conditional acceptance of the idea. In a phonecall to Fox News, he said, "I am ready for immediate conference, butat the same time immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces."
Powell's quest
The one-hour time zone difference between Ramallah and Jerusalem,cities only 10 miles apart, is symbolic of the gulf Powell is tryingto bridge.
Powell arrived in Israel on Wednesday night to try to negotiate acease-fire after President Bush jumped into the swelling crisis withthe demand that Israeli troops retreat from the West Bank and Arafatoppose terror attacks that have been plaguing Israel.
The meeting with Arafat was postponed a day after a suicide attackFriday at a Jerusalem bus stop killed six bystanders and thePalestinian woman who detonated the bomb. The next day, Arafat issueda statement in Arabic condemning terror, and the meeting wasrestored.
During the exchanges Arafat spoke in Arabic for about an hour andsaid his priority was to see Israeli withdrawal,'' said a seniorState Department official who did not want to be identified.
On religious sites, he talked especially about Bethlehem and thechurch there. He talked about humanitarian issues, particularlyJenin,'' the official said.
Deaths and devastation at the Jenin refugee camp--which wasestablished in 1953--have become a major embarrassment to Israel, andon Saturday Powell said the United States was particularlyconcerned'' about the conditions in the camp, joining a chorus ofhumanitarian organizations.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the reason internationalobservers have not been allowed into the camp to report on conditionswas there was still an exchange of fire in Jenin.''
But the Israeli government lifted some travel restrictions onjournalists and took a small group in to tour the wreckage in thecamp that is the result of the military campaign to root outterrorists and the infrastructure that supports suicide strikes onIsrael.
Powell talked for about 45 minutes in the meeting with Arafat andsent a very clear message,'' said the official, that the bombing hadto stop.'' Powell stressed the point throughout the meeting, theofficial said.
The pattern of bombings is a barrier to moving forward. It makeseverything more difficult to move forward. It was a very clearmessage from the secretary.''
Little progress was made. Palestinian Parliament Speaker AhmedQuriea, who attended the meeting, told the Associated Press: "We toldSecretary Powell that we shall not discuss any subject before Israelpulls out" from towns and villages occupied since March 29. Israeliforces remain in the main West Bank towns of Jenin, Bethlehem, Nablusand Ramallah.
Arafat's cake
The Palestinians served their guests chocolate cake, which wasbrought by the Norwegian ambassador a few days ago and saved so theycould serve it with a bit of coffee.
In Washington, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice saidBush was open to the notion of an international security conference.Well, of course, we would consider anything that would help in thissituation. We don't want to act prematurely here,'' she said on Meetthe Press.''
Also on the show, Nasser al Kidwa, the Palestinian representativeto the United Nations, was dismissive of the Sharon safe passage planto resolve the standoff at the Bethlehem church.
I think the fact that the Israeli tanks are imposing militarysiege on the Church of Nativity is scandalous," al Kidwa said. "Itshouldn't have taken place in the first place, and what is now comingout from the Israeli side is as much scandalous.
"I mean, they are proposing either to have those people facing theIsraeli courts or for them to leave the country. That is deportation,very serious violation of the . . . Geneva Convention. It isprohibited under international law, but this is reflective of theIsraeli thinking.''
The northern border
Powell will make an unscheduled detour to Lebanon and Syria todayto do what he can to keep two weeks of largely overshadowed borderclashes there from sparking a descent into a wider regional war.
Since the Israeli assault on Palestinian West Bank towns began,the sparsely populated border area bisected by what the UnitedNations has dubbed the "Blue Line" has seen a daily back-and-forthbarrage of artillery shells, missiles, rifle fire and bombs.
So far, casualties have been light for Israeli army troops,Lebanon-based Hezbollah guerrilla fighters and villagers on bothsides of the 70-mile front, which meanders along hills of scrub androcks. But that could quickly change--a fact spurring Powell todivert from his diplomatic focus on the West Bank.
"The Palestinian arena, despite all its importance, may soonbecome secondary to the northern arena," Israeli Army Maj. Gen. DanHarel warned this weekend.
A tinderbox since Israel seized it from Lebanon and Syria duringthe 1967 Arab- Israeli war, the area holds the potential not only totrigger another Lebanon-Israel conflict, but also to draw in Syriaand even Iran.
Contributing: Scripps Howard News Service
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