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Powell to Visit Jerusalem and Ramallah

(Ha'aretz) - Aluf Benn Prime Minister Sharon is planning to tell Secretary of State Powell that the U.S. must pressure the Palestinian Authority to take real steps against terror, just as it is pressuring Syria to cease supporting terrorism, government sources said Wednesday before Powell's arrival for a shuttle mission between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Powell, whose visit is scheduled to start Saturday night, will meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as a signal of U.S. support for the new Palestinian government. Sharon is slated to go to Washington at the end of the month for talks with President Bush, and Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weisglass, is to visit Washington ahead of the premier's trip. Israel has told Washington it is ready to take steps to ease economic and humanitarian conditions, and to withdraw from areas where the Palestinians take responsibility for security and take active steps against terror. But Israel is demanding the Palestinians first prove their intentions to fight terror. Jerusalem fears that the U.S. will accept the Palestinian formula for a hudna, a temporary cease-fire, and then demand that Israel respond with a withdrawal and gestures to the Palestinians without the Palestinian government taking any real steps to eliminate the terror infrastructure in the territories. Powell is bringing Richard Erdman, a State Department official assigned to coordinate monitors to oversee implementation of the road map. Israel has given the U.S. a document regarding those monitors: They must all be Americans; they must have a clear mission agreed upon in advance; and they must focus on the Palestinian side and their fight against terror.
2003-05-08 00:00:00
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