Powell ends mission amid Palestinian anger

Powell ends mission amid Palestinian anger

Reuters, Ramallah, West Bank

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said on Wednesday Israeli troop
pullbacks were a sham and one of his aides accused Israel's Ariel
Sharon of torpedoing U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's peace
mission.

Avi Pazner, an aide to the Israeli prime minister, accused
Arafat of refusing to sign a ceasefire agreement.

Arafat, speaking after a final round of talks with Powell,
raged at Israel for confining him to his Ramallah headquarters.

"I have to ask the whole international world, I have to ask
President Bush, I have to ask the United Nations, is this
acceptable that I can't go outside from this door?"

Arafat has been stuck in his compound in Ramallah surrounded
by tanks since Israel launched a sweeping offensive on March 29
after a wave of suicide bombings that killed scores of Israelis.

He told reporters Israel had announced troop withdrawals from
two West Bank cities, only to return, and were also making
"shameful attacks" on Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

"They have not withdrawn. As you remember, they had mentioned
Tulkarm and Qalqilya but they returned back," he said.

Israeli forces left the two cities last Tuesday, but staged an
incursion in Tulkarm a week later. Tanks still ring Qalqilya and
thrust into two more West Bank villages on Wednesday.

In Bethlehem, troops are locked in a lengthy standoff with
Palestinians trapped in the Church of the Nativity. Israel has
vowed not to storm it, but says militants inside must surrender.

Powell said on Wednesday Arafat must work to end "terrorism"
and added that Sharon had given him a "timeline" to end a West
Bank offensive.

"In my meetings with Chairman Arafat, I made it clear, and the
Palestinian Authority can no longer equivocate, they must decide
as the rest of the world has decided that terrorism must end,"
Powell told a news conference at the end of a peace mission

"Prime Minister Sharon has stated his intention to complete
Israel's withdrawal from the areas it recently occupied. He has
provided me with a timeline through this weekend, and as you all
know reservists are now returning home," he said, adding that
Israel would withdraw "in the next few days or a week or so".

Powell also said senior U.S. officials would be in the area to
try to end Israeli-Palestinian violence and that he also planned
to return to the region to continue his efforts, but gave no
date.

The U.S. secretary of state also said Israel's offensive in
the West Bank, which it launched last month after a wave of
suicide bombings, must end before a ceasefire could be put in
place.

Powell arrived in Jerusalem last Thursday to reinforce U.S.
President George W. Bush's demands for an immediate Israeli
pullout from West Bank cities, action by Arafat to halt
Palestinian violence and agreement from both sides to revive
peace talks.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused the Israeli
Prime Minister of sabotaging Powell's mission.

"The situation on the ground is that Secretary Powell leaves
the situation much worse (than when he came)...It is very
unfortunate that every effort exerted by the secretary was
torpedoed by Sharon," he told reporters in Ramallah.

The U.S. administration said on Tuesday it would let the PLO
keep an office in Washington for another six months, but warned
that it could be kicked out and lose access to its funds in the
United States if Arafat failed to comply with its demands.

There have been two suicide bombings that killed 14 people
during Powell's week-long visit to the region, along with
extensive Israeli military operations in the West Bank.

Sharon, who has been touting the idea of a Middle East peace
conference with Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, said on
television he hoped the meeting would take place in June.

At least 1,276 Palestinians and 452 Israelis have been killed
since a Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.