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Powell Receives Warm Reception At AIPAC
WASHINGTON, March 19 (News Agencies) - The United States remains committed to Middle East peace efforts but will not "insist" on a particular solution to break the impasse in stalled Israel-Palestinian negotiations, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
"The United States stands ready to assist, not insist," Powell said in an address reflecting President George W. Bush's intention to support peace but adopt a less involved approach that his predecessor, Bill Clinton.
"Only the parties themselves can determine the pace and scope and content of any negotiations," Powell told AIPAC ahead of a meeting here with new Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"Each party knows full well what the other values most dearly, each party knows full well what the other fears most deeply. Progress can only come if statements and behavior come to reflect this knowledge."
Powell stated that the two sides should refrain from unilateral actions, and normal economic life must revive in the Palestinian territories, where Israeli closures have put Palestinians out of work and killed off economic growth.
While making clear that Washington was looking to Israel and the Palestinians for signs they are ready to end the continuing cycle of violence in the region and resume peace talks, Powell vowed not to remain aloof.
"The United States will stay involved," he said. "We have no intention of ignoring our responsibilities or the role we have played in the past."
But, he said, neither side should look to the United States to produce dramatic results capable of forging a breakthrough on peace.
"I have no magic formula, I cannot snap my fingers, make the current situation go away or turn it around," Powell told the pro-Israeli lobbying group which Sharon, now on a four-day trip to the United States, is to address later Monday.
Sharon is to meet Tuesday with Bush after seeing Powell, defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and CIA director George Tenet in separate meetings on Monday.
At each stop, Sharon hopes to convince Washington of Israel's commitment to their alliance in the Middle East and its resolve that the peace process in the region must be revived.
Powell did not suggest any U.S. initiative was in the making, at least until Bush has had talks with Sharon on Tuesday and then with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan next month. Bush and King Abdullah spoke by telephone for 10 minutes on Monday, the White House said.
"We look forward to having the benefit of the perspective of these friends. The United States has no monopoly on wisdom. We are open, indeed anxious, to hear the views of others and to take into account the aspirations of others," Powell said.
Powell received several standing ovations from the capacity crowd but none more enthusiastic as when he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Israel's security, pledging that Washington would do all it could to preserve Israel's "qualitative military edge" in the region.
"I am a former person of war," the retired four-star general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Now I will pursue peace for all the peoples of the region."
At the same time, Powell put both Israel and its Arab neighbors on notice that the United States would not stand silent if it believed they were acting in ways detrimental to peace.
"We will speak out if we hear words or see actions that contribute to confrontation or detract from the promise of negotiations," he said. "We will not strive for some arbitrary measure of even-handedness when responsibility is not evenly shared."
As if to make that point, Powell decried the fact that neither Egypt nor Jordan - the only Arab states to have full diplomatic relations with Israel - maintained resident ambassadors in the country.
"This is most unfortunate," he said to applause from the crowd after demanding that "other states" in the region "be voices of moderation" and "match words with deeds."
Egypt withdrew its ambassador to Israel in November after the collapse in July of the Camp David peace talks and the start in late September of the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, now in its sixth month.
Jordan announced in October that it would not fill the ambassadorial post at its embassy in Tel Aviv.
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