Middle East - AP
Powell Reassures Europeans on 'Road Map'
Date: Tue Apr 20,12:32 PM ET
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) assured anxious Europeans Tuesday that the Bush administration is determined to launch a Palestinian state and that any decision on Israeli population centers remaining on the West Bank would require Palestinian approval.
Powell made the statements after a meeting with Javier Solana, the senior European Union (news - web sites) diplomat, and the postponement by King Abdullah II of Jordan of a visit on Wednesday to the White House for a meeting with the president. Powell said he spoke twice on Monday to Abdullah and a date is being worked out for the king to reschedule his visit for early May.
Still, Powell lined up with President Bush (news - web sites)'s assurances last week to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) that "the realities that exist in the area" should be taken into account in a peace accord.
King Abdullah 's action, on the heels of cancellation of a trip to Washington by Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath for talks on Wednesday with senior Bush administration officials, appears to reflect Arab disapproval of Bush's statement on Jewish centers on the West Bank.
After seeing Solana, Powell met with Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher, who has said his government wants assurances the Bush administration is committed to a land-for-peace deal and establishment of a Palestinian state next year.
Abdullah, who has been touring the United States as his late father, King Hussein, did regularly, "wanted to go back and consult with members of his government."
"We value his friendship and look forward to his return," Powell said.
Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel that Hussein fostered along with a promise of living side by side in peace with the Jewish state.
In Paris, meanwhile, President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) of Egypt, the other Arab state that signed a peace treaty with Israel, accused Israel of jeopardizing the peace process by killing a leader of the terror group Hamas.
"Israel has started a process of provocation," Mubarak said at a joint news conference with French President Jacques Chirac.
Solana, whose European Union is a sponsor of the so-called road map for Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking along with the United States, the United Nations (news - web sites) and Russia, said the terms of any agreement must be determined by Israel and the Palestinians.
"It's very important that we keep on saying that," Solana said as he disregarded Bush's remarks about new realities and the president's conciliatory gestures toward Israel.
Powell, in an interview Monday with The Associated Press, said the administration had been stymied on Mideast peacemaking until Sharon offered to withdraw from Gaza and dismantle four settlements on the West Bank.
Powell said that Palestinians and other Arabs should seize the opportunity rather than criticize Bush for saying some Jewish population centers might remain on the West Bank in a peace deal.
"We are not prejudging or prejudicing the outcome," he said.
But, he said, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia was being undercut by Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) as predecessor Abu Mazen had been before resigning. "The reality is settlements are going to be removed" and the Palestinians, instead of criticizing, should "make the most of it," Powell said.
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