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Powell: End intifada - and occupation
Posted on 2001-11-20 00:20:40 by |
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 Administration's vision for the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday urged Palestinians and Israelis to treat each other with mutual respect and to face the "fundamental truths" that lie at the heart of the long conflict: the Palestinians must enable Israelis to live without the fear of terror and Israel must allow the Palestinians to establish a "viable" state in which they can control their own lives.
Powell: End intifada - and occupation
By Ha'aretz Staff and Agencies
In his much-awaited speech on the Bush
Administration's vision for the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday urged Palestinians and Israelis to treat each other with mutual respect and to face the "fundamental truths" that lie at the heart of the long conflict: the Palestinians must enable Israelis to live without the fear of terror and Israel must allow the Palestinians to establish a "viable" state in which they can control their own lives.
Powell noted in this speech at the University of Louisville that he had spoken earlier in the day with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who told him that Israel is preparing a high-level negotiating team in anticipation of renewed peace efforts. The secretary of state noted that Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat has also reiterated that he is prepared to return to the negotiating table.
Powell did not take a public stand on Sharon's demand for a seven-day period of "absolute quiet" in the territories before diplomatic efforts could resume. (This demand was the focus of controversy during the prime minister's meeting with a European Union delegation on Sunday.)
Powell devoted the first section of his speech to affirming his country's determination to continue its global campaign against terrorism. "We will not rest until the job is done and civilization is safe again," he emphasized. Citing the success of the war effort so far against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan ("evil merchants of death and destruction"), Powell said "we have now made them pay" for providing refuge to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
The secretary of state began outlining the U.S. vision of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by reiterating America's "enduring and ironclad commitment to Israel's security." He added that "our two nations are bound forever together by common democratic values and traditions. This will never change."
Hard truths
Powell also chose to focus first in his speech on the hard truths the Palestinians must face: "The Palestinian leadership must make a 100 percent effort to end violence and terror. There must be real results, not just words and declarations." He noted that " the intifada is now mired in the quicksand of self-defeating violence and terror directed against Israel."
He also told the Palestinians that "incitement must stop." Incitement only feeds Israelis' deepest doubts about the prospects of peace and reinforce their fears, perpetuating a "culture of hatred."
Turning to Israel, Powell made a clear call for the end of the occupation. He noted that the majority of the Arab population in the territories was born after the occupation began over three decades ago. This young population has grown up with "checkpoints, raids and indignities", he said. Palestinians must also be able to enjoy security and control over their lives, he added.
Occupation hurts Palestinians, but it also affects Israelis, Powell said, referring to the young soldiers who serve on the front lines of the conflict.
Powell was unequivocal about Jewish settlements in the territories, arguing that these settlements "preempt," "pre-judge" and "cripple" peacemaking efforts, and he declared that "settlement activity must stop." He also made a clear call for Israel to lift the closures it has imposed on Palestinian towns and villages.
The speech contained an explicit mention of a future state of "Palestine" - a relatively new feature in the American diplomatic lexicon. Powell called on Arab states to clearly demonstrate their readiness to accept Israel's existence as a Jewish state "alongside" and not instead of a Palestinian state.
Powell emphasized that the U.S. is ready to play an active leadership role in helping Palestinians and Israelis resolve the difficult issues ahead, including Jerusalem and a "fair and realistic" solution of the refugee issue. In the end, however, it will be up to the two sides to take the necessary steps to reach a peace accord.
Powell noted that he was speaking on the 24th anniversary of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem. He also cited the contributions of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein to subsequent peace efforts.
He concluded his impassioned plea for a renewed peace effort in the Mideast by saying that "It's time - past time - to bring the violence to an end and to seek a better day."
Road map is ready
The "bad news," Powell said, is that the way back to the negotiating table will not be easy or quick. But the "good news," he quickly added is that a framework for a future settlement exists in UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, and the "roadmap" and "tools" for rebuilding confidence are available in the U.S.-brokered Tenet security work plan and Mitchell Committee recommendations.
He announced that Williams Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, will return to the region, together with retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, who has agreed to serve as a senior adviser to the secretary.
Zinni is expected to arrive in the region this week and begin marathon talks on a cease-fire with Palestinian and Israeli negotiators. He will seek to establish a mechanism for monitoring the cease-fire, including American monitors. Israel has already agreed to an expanded CIA presence in Tel Aviv, as well as the dispatching of American observers to difficult flash points in the territories, such as Jenin and Rafah.
Full text of Powell's speech
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| "Powell: End intifada - and occupation" | Login/Create an account| 2 comments |
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Re: Powell: End intifada - and occupation(Score: 1)
by brian on Nov 23, 2001 - 08:39 PM
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I'm a little disappointed in Colin Powell's speech. It was built up so
much and the expectations were great that he would offer a new way, a
new vision to lead us out of this morass. On top of that he's
demonstrated great leadership qualities time and again, for example
convincing Bush to go along with the coolition making rather than go it
alone in this war on terrorism. Although predictably he should support
existing agreements such as the Mitchell report, he had more of a
responsibility to accurately portray the current situation and make
strong arguments and perhaps give incentives to both sides showing why
peace is clearly the way out. The speech includes way too much back
slapping and irrelevant meadering into things such as Louisville
basketball, our relationship with Russia, China, a rousing rallying cry
for world free trade, etc... It dilutes the impact of the message he's
trying to get across.
Looking at the meat of the speech it is clearly more critical of the
Palestinian and Arafat side than the Israeli and Sharon side. This is a
critical mistake that will impact the current war on terrorism. We will
only win the war if the average, moderate muslim in any Arab nation
believes that the US is a mostly fair arbitrator in middle eastern
affairs. We needed to breakaway from our long history of consistently
vetoing countless UN resolutions unanimously approved by all nations
(exception Israel) condemming Israel's actions within the Palestinian
areas and Lebanon. Answers to simple questions like "who is occupying
who's land?", "who is clearly losing more people?", "how many buildings
have been destoryed on both sides?", "how many orchards and farms have
been destroyed on both sides?", "who has suffered more?", "who has all
the weaponry?", "who has the biggest Wash DC lobbying presence?" make
any pressuring of Arafat without equal or more pressuring of Sharon seem
very biased in the eyes of the average, moderate muslim, and for that
matter the average, moderate non-American. It was clearly time for
Powell to break new ground and offer the US a new way that the world
community would all rally round, instead of which we got more of the
same. Placing more pressure on Arafat is perhaps not such a wise thing
right now. Recently there have been a number of attempts by us and
Israel to put him under pressure and undermine his leadership such as
the recent Israeli occupation of six Palestinian towns. But, we should
be careful what we wish for. The reality is that Arafat is becoming
increasingly unpopular with the Palestinians who view him as pandering
to the US and Israel. Hezbollah is apparently far more popular with
Palestinians.
The average, moderate muslim sees the US as pandering to the needs of
Israel at the expense of the Palestinians. The muslim religion has 5
basic tenants, one of which is the sympathy for the suffering. While
there is still so much suffering on the Palestinian side, terrorists
will find sympathetic ears with the muslim community when they
incorporate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in their message. We
clearly need to eliminate this avenue for terrorists. If we can both
resolve the Israel-Palestine issue and be considered somewhat fair in
our dealings with both sides, we will rob the terrorists of their
biggest emotional pull within the the muslim community. Any efforts that
Powell, or anyone within the administration, can make in that direction
will show great leadership. Powell is still a great leader but he missed
a great chance to take a big step towards peace throughout the world.
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Re: Powell: End intifada - and occupation (Score: 1)
by (webmaster@middleeastinfo.org) on Nov 24, 2001 - 01:06 AM
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I am still hopeful that the Bush administration has decided to become more balanced in its role as the mediator. I wasn't so worried about the lack of specifics in Powell's speech because such specifics are best left to closed-door negotiations. I thought it was good that Powell showed his sympathy for the suffering of Palestinians with some rather emotional language. Apparently Powell originally wasn't going to put so much of the responsibility for the current troubles on Arafat, but some rightwingers in the administration made him add a couple of sentences demanding that Arafat stop the violence, without an equally strong statement to Sharon to stop the provocations.
The negotiations will most likely fail again if we don't put pressure on the Israelis. Progress will be made only if the two sides trust each other. That's why the confidence-building measures mentioned in the Mitchell Report are so important. It seems that the Israeli government isn't going to accept the recommendations of the Mitchell Report (especially the freeze on settlements) without greater pressure from US.
Arafat will need to control the radicals on the Palestinians as best as he can. Sharon also must show that he really is interested in peace, and unfortunately we can't be that confident that he is. He was a big proponent of the West Bank and Gaza settlements. If he still hold (or acts in such a way that he is perceived to hold) such territorial ambitions, we'll just have to wait until he is out of the office for further progress. |
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