Powell Invites Arafat To Help Abbas

Raghida Dergham     Al-Hayat     2003/08/22

New York

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell considered that the end of the Roadmap, which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, would represent an abyss into which both (Israeli and Palestinian) parties would fall. 

During a press conference held following his meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Powell said that the only alternative to the Roadmap was further death, destruction and the triumph of terrorism coupled with the failure to establish a Palestinian state, which is unacceptable.

Powell added that the two parties were fully aware of this, and had to reassert their commitments in a bid to find a way to move forward. Powell called upon President Yasser Arafat to work with Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and put all the security forces falling under his authority at the service of the Palestinian Premier, in the hope of achieving some development on the Roadmap and end all terrorism and violence.

Powell also asked the Arab countries and the Quartet members (UN, EU, Russia and the U.S.) to step up their pressure to end the terrorism perpetrated by organizations such as Hamas, he said.