“We do not plan to rewrite or renegotiate the roadmap,” Powell

AMMAN, May 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell ruled out Tuesday, May 13, in Jordan any plans by Washington to "rewrite" the international roadmap blueprint for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Israel has some comments on the roadmap and we will listen to their comments but we do not plan to rewrite or renegotiate the roadmap," Powell said at a joint news conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Powell, winding up a two-day visit to Jordan and moving on to Saudi Arabia, pledged that Jordan and the United States will work closely to promote the roadmap but said Israel and the Palestinians had the bigger role to play.

"To move forward, the Palestinians have to move quickly and decisively against those who cling to the path of violence and terror," said Powell, who met on the weekend with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

"And at the same time the government of Israel must do its part to improve the daily lives of Palestinians to ensure hope and to show respect," to the Palestinians, he added.

He said he hoped that the progress he apparently failed to achieve at the end of this tour to Israel and the Palestinian territories could emerge following key talks between the Israeli and Palestinian Prime Ministers.

"There is another opportunity for both sides to talk to one another before the week is out ... (to discuss) the issues of the greatest concerns to them," Powell said.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) are due to hold their first official talks perhaps Friday, ahead of Sharon's visit next week to Washington for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush.

"We will wait and see what other comments Israel has on the roadmap, we will wait and see the results of the conversation between the two Prime Ministers," Powell said. "We will see where we go after that," he added.

Jordan, a key backer of the roadmap drawn up by the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, made it clear that the onus was now on Israel to formally accept the peace initiative, as the Palestinians have done.

The blueprint draws up guidelines to end 31 months of Palestinian-Israeli violence leading up to the creation of a Palestinian state in 2005.

"The roadmap has everything that Israel needs in terms of addressing the security situation. If the excuse is security, it is handled in the roadmap," Moasher told the press conference.

Jordan, he said, sees "no reason why any party should now reject a document that has been accepted by the U.S. President, the U.S. administration and the international community.

"The acceptance and implementation of the roadmap is the true test of seriousness in trying to find a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and we hope Israel, just as all other parties have, to accept it," Moasher said.

Powell and Moasher also discussed postwar Iraq, where the U.S. was "working hard to stabilize and to rebuild the infrastructure destroyed after several years of Saddam Hussein's regime", the secretary of state said.

Moasher insisted that a national Iraqi government "that is representative of all political factions in Iraq is formed as soon as possible so that we can, once again, have Iraq as part of the international community".

Powell Moves On To Riyadh

Powell left Jordan for Saudi Arabia Tuesday, hours after suicide blasts targeting foreigners in Riyadh killed three people and wounded some 50.

Powell strongly condemned the attacks at a press conference in Amman saying they had the "earmarks of Al-Qaeda", the network of Osama bin Laden, accused by the United States of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks.

He said he planned to hold talks with Saudi officials on "how we can redouble our efforts to go after terrorism", vowing that the United States will not "shrink from the task" of leading the fight against terror groups.

After Saudi Arabia he moves on to Russia, Bulgaria and Germany.

Israel Closes Gaza Again

Less than 24 hours after Israel lifted travel restrictions on the Palestinians to demonstrate to Powell that it was serious about the peace process, it in effect reversed the decision Monday, slapping its tightest military closure on the Gaza Strip for years, reported the Independent.

The Israeli government announced Sunday that it was lifting restrictions on Palestinians crossing into Israel to work, after talks between Sharon and Powell.

Bu on Monday, as Powell announced in Cairo that the new measures from Israel "constitute the beginning of the road-map process", Israel was reversing those measures.

Under the strict new closure, nobody – Palestinian or foreigner – could cross into or out of the Gaza Strip, except foreign diplomats. UN aid workers complained that the closure was interfering with their work. Journalists were also blocked from entering, which will raise concern that the Israeli army's actions in the Gaza Strip will not be subject to scrutiny, the British daily said.

The Israeli army sought to justify the new closure by saying it received several "alerts" of possible attacks by Palestinian activists since the government announced Palestinians would be allowed to cross to work. It is not clear how long the new closure will stay in place.

It comes only days after Israel announced that foreigners crossing into the Gaza Strip, including UN staff and journalists, would be obliged to sign a form absolving the army of any responsibility if they were shot by its soldiers – a move condemned by the British government and human rights groups.

The closure will raise doubts over whether the Israeli government is prepared to implement the road-map. In Cairo Monday, after talks with the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, General Powell held up the new measures by the Israeli government as proof that the peace process was moving forward, despite Israel not yet formally accepting the road-map.