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Powell, Arafat talks on again after US demand met
US Secretary of State Colin Powell rescheduled a meeting with Yasser Arafat for Sunday in which he is expected to push for ceasefire as a first step towards reviving talks on a final peace settlement.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell rescheduled a meeting with Yasser Arafat for Sunday in which he is expected to push for ceasefire as a first step towards reviving talks on a final peace settlement.
Seeking to put back on track a peace mission dogged by unceasing Israeli-Palestinian violence, Powell will head to Arafat's besieged headquarters in Ramallah in the West Bank, where Israel has been waging a two-week-long offensive.
Powell had called off talks with Arafat set for Saturday following a suicide bombing that killed six people in Jerusalem on Friday, but decided to go ahead with the meeting after the Palestinian President met US demands to condemn the attack.
As Israeli forces pressed on with their offensive, the army said that a soldier shot dead a Palestinian man on Saturday at a hostel next to Bethlehem's church of the nativity, where troops have been locked in a standoff with armed men for 12 days.
At the Jenin refugee camp to the north, journalists saw that the devastation left after days of the most ferocious fighting in the Israeli military campaign in the West Bank.
''The secretary will work with chairman Arafat and the Palestinian leadership and to help make these statements a reality with effective action to bring an end to terror and violence and an early resumption of a political process,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Despite that, expectations for a breakthrough were low after a series of failed US and international missions, which have been met by the bloody spiral of violence.
Earlier in the day, Powell urged restraint by Israeli forces, which swept into half a dozen more West Bank towns in defiance of US pressure to end the offensive.
He also expressed concern about the ''serious humanitarian situation'' in areas seized by the Israeli army, which has said that its intent is to root out militants behind attacks on Israelis.
Those conditions were witnessed first-hand by Reuters journalists in the Jenin camp. Its houses and passageways were smashed and riddled with bullet holes, two days after Israelis crushed the last major pocket of Palestinian resistance.
Bureau Report
''The secretary will work with chairman Arafat and the Palestinian leadership and to help make these statements a reality with effective action to bring an end to terror and violence and an early resumption of a political process,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Despite that, expectations for a breakthrough were low after a series of failed US and international missions, which have been met by the bloody spiral of violence.
Earlier in the day, Powell urged restraint by Israeli forces, which swept into half a dozen more West Bank towns in defiance of US pressure to end the offensive.
He also expressed concern about the ''serious humanitarian situation'' in areas seized by the Israeli army, which has said that its intent is to root out militants behind attacks on Israelis.
Those conditions were witnessed first-hand by Reuters journalists in the Jenin camp. Its houses and passageways were smashed and riddled with bullet holes, two days after Israelis crushed the last major pocket of Palestinian resistance.
Bureau Report