"We need action, not propositions, not proposals, not commitments (from the Palestinians)," said Powell

By Abdel Raheem Ali, IOL Staff  

CAIRO, July 27 (IslamOnline.net) – The forthcoming visit of US Secretary of State Colin Powell to the Middle East is primarily aimed at alienating his hosts from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, well-placed Egyptian and Arab sources revealed Tuesday, July 27.

Powell will also try to persuade Egypt once again to send troops to Iraq , the sources told IslamOnline.net.

" Egypt is convinced now more than ever that Arafat is deceiving it by laying obstacles to its security plan in the Gaza Strip following a proposed Israeli withdrawal," the sources told IOL on condition of anonymity.

Wahid Abdul Majid, deputy director of Al-Aharam Center for Political and Strategic Studies, an Egyptian think tank, said Powell seeks an Egyptian about-turn on its support for Arafat and wants to put the Egyptian role in Gaza back on track.

" Egypt was supposed to send security experts to train Palestinian security apparatuses in view of its support for the Israeli disengagement plan and considered a Washington-hosted peace conference between both sides. All this have been now put on hold," Abdel Majid told IOL.

Powell embarked Tuesday on a European and Mideast tour ending with brief stops in Bosnia and Poland .

Arriving to Budapest , Hungary , he told a news conference he wanted to see action not words from the Palestinians over reforms in its security services.

"We need action, not propositions, not proposals, not commitments," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Powell as saying at the start of his weeklong multi-leg tour.

"(We need) consolidation of the security services under the direction of the prime minister. We haven't seen these things happening yet."

Powell was speaking as Palestinian prime Minister Ahmad Qurei announced he has decided to stay on in his post.

Qurei tendered his resignation on July 17 after a spate of kidnappings in Gaza highlighting a breakdown in law and order in the Palestinian territories and unprecedented protests against Arafat's handling of security.

Troops To Iraq

Powell will also try his best to convince Egypt of sending troops to Iraq , particularly after Cairo has backtracked on sending security experts to the war-torn country following the abduction of one of its diplomats there.

Mohammad Mamdough Qotb, the third highest ranking diplomat in the Egyptian mission in Iraq , was kidnapped Friday, July 23, after Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif promised his visiting counterpart Iyad Allawi to help train Iraqi security personnel.

The captors released Qotb Monday night, July 26, after declining a large ransom and citing his polite and religious personality as the reason for his liberation.

Powell thanked Hungary on Tuesday for maintaining troops in Iraq and said he hopes Parliament will agree to extend the deployment beyond the end-of-year pullout date.

He lashed out at the recent withdrawal of Philippine troops from Iraq in the face of a threat by militants to kill a Filipino national they had kidnapped.

Three other nations, Spain , Honduras and Thailand , have also withdrawn their troops from the chaos-mired country.