By Barry Schweid
Associated Press
MADRID, Spain — Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday he would push ahead with his peacekeeping mission in the Middle East despite Israel’s objections to his meeting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. An Israeli military withdrawal from three West Bank towns drew support from the White House.
"The withdrawal the president has called for is continuing. Now the Palestinian Authority and Arab nations have to do what the president called for," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in Washington. The statement did not mention Arafat by name.
"The burden isn’t Israel’s alone. All parties have responsibilities," Fleischer said on the eve of Powell’s visit to Israel.
The White House statement was a shift from the administration’s objections earlier Wednesday over Israel’s slowness in meeting Bush’s demands for a withdrawal.
In his earlier remarks, Powell brushed aside Sharon’s assertion that the secretary’s planned meeting with Arafat this weekend would be "a tragic mistake." Powell said his mission was "not in the least in jeopardy."
He said he hoped Sharon would help the meeting take place and ease restrictions on Arafat in Ramallah to help him communicate more readily with other Palestinian leaders.
"He is the partner that Israel will have to deal with," Powell said after his peace mission was endorsed in Madrid by the European Union, the United Nations and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.
America has pressured Israel to pull troops out of West Bank cities and end its 13-day offensive.
Powell is trying to persuade Sharon to pull his troops back entirely, Arafat to speak out against terror and for both sides to return to the negotiating table.
The crux of Powell’s two-step plan is to try to arrange a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians and then steer them into negotiations that would culminate in a Palestinian state on land Israel now holds.
Even if Powell gains a cease-fire, many in the region question how well it might hold if there are more Palestinian suicide attacks.
Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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