Powell mission in jeopardy as Israel defies US

COLIN POWELL arrived in Jerusalem last night for the most crucial Middle East peace mission by a US Secretary of State since Henry Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
Backed by the full weight of world opinion, General Powell must broker a ceasefire after a fortnight of intensifying violence between Israelis and Palestinians that has left hundreds dead. But his chances looked ever more slim as the rift widened between the US and its closest Middle Eastern ally.

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, placed himself on a direct collision course with America’s top diplomat by stating: “I have warned the Americans that the Israeli Army will not withdraw from Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah until all the terrorists there have surrendered.”

Any lingering hopes that the Israelis were engaged in brinkmanship and would begin a full pullout from West Bank towns before the Secretary of State flew in were dashed when Shimon Peres, the Israeli Foreign Minister, said that the withdrawal would take two to three weeks.