Powell exits; next steps are elusive

It took US Secretary of State Colin Powell's airplane no more than five minutes to fly over Israel and the Palestinian territories on its way back to Washington yesterday. The mood on board was undoubtedly downbeat. Ten days after beginning his mission in this small strip of embattled land, Mr. Powell departed basically empty-handed.

Powell's mission was to stop the escalation of violence and bring the parties back to negotiations. President George Bush said he wanted a withdrawal of the Israeli military from the West Bank towns it invaded 20 days ago, and a firm commitment from Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to stop the suicide bombings that have been plaguing Israel's towns in recent months. But it didn't happen.

With officials close to Mr. Sharon and Mr. Arafat publicly blaming the other side for the mission's failure, there are some observers who tempered their reactions and looked for a glimmer of hope.

"The trip was a failure in the sense that Powell's specific objective – of getting a cease-fire – was not reached. But a step was nonetheless taken here on which future progress can be built," says Ghassan Khatib, director of the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. "Powell touched reality here. He now knows more. He has a better understanding of the specific problems and can now better engage in resolving them. He needed this lesson," Mr. Khatib says. "All is not lost."

Meanwhile, regional support for US efforts to resolve the crisis look as if they may also have suffered a setback. Early suggestions by Sharon, echoed by Powell, that it might be possible to convene a regional peace conference without the presence of Arafat were immediately rejected by the Arab states.

Even after this precondition was apparently dropped, little enthusiasm was heard in the neighborhood for such a conference. In an interview with Israeli TV, Sharon declared that Israel cannot withdraw to the 1967 borders, would not allow the return of Palestinian refugees, and would not discuss dividing Jerusalem. "So what exactly would we discuss?" asked Saeb Erekat, senior negotiator for the Palestinians. "What would be the point?"

Moreover, a meeting that was to take place yesterday between Powell and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was cancelled at the last moment. While Powell said the cancellation had no great significance, Egyptian presidential sources told The Associated Press that the decision was made after it emerged that Powell's talks with Arafat earlier in the day were a "catastrophe."

At a press conference before leaving Israel, Powell tried to point to some achievements, saying he believed a commitment from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw troops from the occupied territories "within days" which in turn, he argued, would promote more diplomatic efforts. Powell mentioned a possible regional conference to discuss the peace process and stressed that the US would remain engaged. CIA Director George Tenet, US mediator Anthony Zinni, and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns would be traveling to the region in coming days, said Powell. Powell himself is expected to return to the region within a month's time.

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