http://www.msnbc.com/msn/531947.asp

Powell has some success in Mideast

Israelis lifts Gaza blockade at urging of secretary

MSNBC staff and wire reports AHMADI, Kuwait, Feb. 26 — Israel showed signs of heeding U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's request to ease its stranglehold on Palestinians, removing military checkpoints that divided the Gaza Strip into two separate sections. But violence showed little signs of ebbing in Israel, while Arab anger at recent allied bombing near Baghdad cast a cloud over the 10th anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq.

POWELL'S ENTRY into the unforgiving and often futile realm of Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy came on his first extensive trip as secretary of state. His major goal is to try to rally Arab governments to support the continuation of economic sanctions against Iraq. While defending the accompanying enforcement of no-fly zones over Iraq, Powell said the bombing raid by U.S. and British warplanes Feb. 16 was more aggressive than usual, thereby contributing to the outcry in the Arab world.

Three Iraqis were killed and 25 others were wounded in the missile attack on air defense and radar sites south of Baghdad. "I have never underestimated the power of a dictator, but we have removed his stings," Powell said during his flight Sunday to Kuwait. "Iraq is trapped in a prison of its own making. This was a guy who invaded a country that was not doing anything to him."

In Israel, Powell held his first talks with Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. He called on the two sides to end the cycle of violence and pledged that Washington would continue to play a leadership role in seeking peace under President Bush.

Shortly after the talks, the Israelis removed checkpoints set up Friday after a mortar attack on a Jewish settlement in Gaza. But a full Israeli closure over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip remained in effect.

Despite the gesture by the Israelis, fresh shootings immediately showed the distance left to go. During Powell's visit, Palestinian gunmen shot two Israeli motorists in the West Bank and a Palestinian was killed by a stray bullet during a gun battle.

As Powell and Arafat talked in Ramallah, hundreds of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip took to the streets, telling the U.S. visitor to "go home."

"Colin Powell go home, your solutions will not intimidate us," nearly 2,500 demonstrators chanted, echoing a protest leader shouting into a megaphone. "Tell the killer Bush that our people will not kneel and will continue to fight."

A small group of demonstrators poured gasoline on U.S. and Israeli flags and a picture of Powell and set them on fire. Powell, on a six-country, four-day trek ending Tuesday, will visit Syria and Saudi Arabia on Monday. Tuesday, he will go to Brussels for meetings with Greek and Turkish foreign ministers and NATO officials. After arriving in Kuwait, Powell headed to southern oil town of Ahmadi to attend a ceremony with his ex-boss, former U.S. President George Bush, and former British prime ministers John Major and Margaret Thatcher.

POWELL PUSHES ISRAEL

Sunday in Israel, Powell endorsed a Palestinian demand by urging Israel to lift an economic "siege" of the West Bank and Gaza as soon as possible.

The constraints, which include a ban on Palestinian workers' going to their jobs in Israel and the withholding of tax revenues, do nothing to improve the security situation, Powell said after a two-hour meeting with Arafat at his headquarters. "If people are not able to get to their jobs, they become more frustrated," Powell said later Sunday as he flew to Kuwait. "Frustration leads to anger and then anger to violence." Israel, in an effort to stem attacks on its soldiers and civilians, is using economic pressure as well as firepower. Peace talks have been shelved, and Powell said it will be a long time before they resume.

"We discussed how it is necessary for all sides to move away from violence and incitement and how it is necessary to lift the siege as soon as possible so that economic activity can begin again in the region," Powell said of his meeting with Arafat. COULDN'T BUDGE SHARON

Before seeing Arafat, Powell met Sharon in Jerusalem but evidently was unable to persuade Israel's incoming prime minister to ease that pressure. Still, Powell said the Bush administration's commitment to Israeli security was "rock hard."

Powell said he was disturbed by an outline of Israel's security problems that he received Saturday night from Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz.

"This is the time to bring calm to the region," Powell said at a news conference with Sharon. "It is a very dangerous situation." Before landing in Kuwait, Powell said Israelis and Palestinians are in touch with each other on security issues. "Whether that will bear fruit, I don't know."

LONG WAY FROM PEACE

On peacemaking, he described Sharon and Arafat as leaders looking down a long hallway, with a settlement at the end. "They have the keys," Powell said.

But, he said, "it's going to take some time before they get back to negotiations."

In Ramallah, Powell blamed both sides for the violence that has plagued the region for five months and promised that President Bush would play a leadership role in peacemaking once the outbreak subsides.

Arafat declared, "Peace is in the interest of the Palestinians, the Israelis, the Arabs and the international community at large," and he added that the Palestinians had made "the strategic choice" to pursue to it.

The meeting with Arafat was "solemn" and "to the point," Powell said. "There were no holds barred."

Arafat insisted peacemaking must begin where it broke off last month. Israel's outgoing prime minister, Ehud Barak, had offered the Palestinians most of the West Bank and control over parts of east Jerusalem.

Arafat rejected the offer, and Barak called it dead after his landslide loss to Sharon earlier this month. Arafat said "no government can basically erase the moves of previous governors." But Sharon ruled out any negotiations "under terror and violence," although he said he maintained "pipelines" to the Palestinian Authority to send messages.

TALKING SANCTIONS IN JORDAN

From the West Bank to Jordan, Barak flew to Jordan, where he discussed Middle East peace and U.N. sanctions against Iraq with King Abdullah.

Jordanian leaders have "a clear understanding Iraq's program of weapons of mass destruction has to be dealt with," Powell said en route to Kuwait. "They are solidly in line with what the U.N. has been doing, so I had a receptive answer." Jordan's foreign minister, Abdul-Illah Khatib, said that the king urged "fairness in dealing with Iraq" and that "demands for implementing U.N. resolutions be clear, just and take into consideration what Iraq has complied with as well as the difficult conditions" that Iraqi people face.

Abdullah urged the resumption of peace talks, the foreign minister said, adding that Powell invited the king to Washington in April. Powell was behind the wheel as he drove with the king to the airport. "They wouldn't let us go fast, unfortunately," Powell said later. As Powell's plane left for Kuwait, Abdullah flew in a helicopter back to his palace.

Powell has been greeted with barely concealed coolness from many Arab leaders and unmistakable venom from regional politicians and commentators. Arab newspapers and the government of Syria have been vocal in their criticism during Powell's visit, accusing the United States of bombing Iraq to divert attention from Israel's harsh treatment of the Palestinians.

In Cairo on Saturday, Powell met with a rebuff from Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on the subject of the threat from Iraq. "I don't see that threat," retorted Moussa, who insisted that the Arab-Israeli conflict was of paramount importance.

Although Powell defended the U.S. stance, a senior State Department official said Saturday that Powell has already decided to pull back from the original purpose of his trip — to "re-energize" the sanctions by rebuilding the Persian Gulf War alliance he helped build as chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff 10 years ago. NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Tom Aspell,The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

-- Anonymous, February 26, 2001