Powell faces Herculean task as Bush administration switches gears on Mideast peacemaking

Friday, April 5th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Secretary of State Colin Powell faces a Herculean task next week in the Middle East as the Bush administration switches gears, trying to pry Israeli forces from the West Bank and get Yasser Arafat to control terrorists.

Yielding to an explosive situation and worldwide pressure that the United States intervene against Israel's military offensive, President Bush announced Thursday he was sending Powell to the region.

The trip was so hastily arranged _ only two days earlier Powell said he had no plans to go to there _ that his schedule was said to be up in the air hours after the president announced the trip.

Powell had planned to go to Berlin late Monday for meetings with German and other European officials and to give a speech. That stop was canceled. A meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and with European Union foreign ministers remained on schedule Wednesday in Madrid, Spain.

Powell is due to see Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan. Where they will meet was a mystery.

After the announcement, the U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsed the mission and demanded an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian cities ``without delay.''

It was not completely certain that Powell would be able to see Arafat, confined by Israeli forces at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah. However, Israel eased its confinement of the Palestinian leader for a meeting with U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni, so prospects were good for a meeting with Powell.

Powell telephoned Arafat and discussed Bush's proposals, Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said. He said Arafat accepted the proposals.

Powell's immediate task will be to try to arrange a cease-fire. Zinni seemed close last week, but a series of terror attacks on Israel timed to the Jewish Passover holiday spoiled the progress the retired Marine general had made.

Bush accused Arafat of not consistently opposing or confronting terrorists. ``The situation in which he finds himself today is largely of his own making,'' the president said. ``He's missed his opportunities and thereby betrayed the hopes of the people he's supposed to lead.''

Bush was tough on Israel, as well. ``To lay the foundations of future peace, I ask Israel to halt incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas and begin the withdrawal from those cities it has recently occupied,'' he said.

He called for an end of construction of homes for Israeli Jews on the West Bank, withdrawal from territories captured from the Arabs in the 1967 Mideast war and for Israel to ``show a respect for and concern about the dignity of the Palestinian people who are and will be their neighbors.''

The president renewed his call for creation of a Palestinian state on land Israel would have to surrender.

After he spoke, Israeli tanks tightened their choke hold on Nablus, the biggest city on the West Bank, and battles raged at nearby Palestinian refugee camps.

Israel launched ``Operation Defensive Shield'' on March 29 after a series of suicide bombs killed more than 40 Israelis and wounded hundreds in a week's time.

A senior U.S. official, speaking Thursday on condition of anonymity, said the foray had harmed both U.S. and Israeli relations with Arab governments.

Bush's initiative was a revival of the land-for-peace approach outlined in 1967 and 1973 U.N. Security Council resolutions and advanced by U.S. administrations ever since, a second U.S. official said.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said in a statement that his country would cooperate in U.S. efforts to arrange a cease-fire. ``In the absence of a true willingness to do the same on the Palestinian side, Israel will continue in its actions to stop terror,'' he said.

The Palestinian leadership accepted ``without conditions'' Bush's peace effort, a Cabinet statement said Thursday.

Earlier, Ahmed Qureia, speaker of the Palestinian parliament, praised Bush for urging an end to the Israeli offensive.

With Powell standing at his side in the Rose Garden, Bush pressed Arab leaders to do more to end terrorism and to emulate the peacemaking traditions of the late President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan. Both signed peace treaties with the Jewish state after Israel yielded to their territorial demands.

As Bush spoke, Mubarak urged the administration to ``exert its maximum effort'' to secure an Israeli withdrawal. In an address to his nation, Mubarak said Israel's military campaign will create hatred among 300 million Arabs.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who had urged Bush to send Powell to the Middle East, said he was somewhat worried about the president's request for Sharon to withdraw Israeli forces from the West Bank.

Specter said a precondition should be a statement from Arafat ordering an end to suicide bombings. ``I think it is asking a great deal of Sharon to stop that when the suicide bombings are going on,'' said Specter.

Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Powell's trip was timely and necessary. ``The carnage must end,'' the Delaware Democrat said.