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"They have not withdrawn.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.