*EPF422 04/11/2002
Bush Gives Powell "Maximum Flexibility" to Implement Mideast Peace Mission
(But there is no guarantee of success, according to Ari Fleischer) (1030)

By Wendy S. Ross
Washington File White House Correspondent

Washington -- President Bush has given Secretary of State Colin Powell "maximum flexibility" on his trip to the Middle East "so he'll have maximum influence in the region, and also an open itinerary toward the end of the trip so the Secretary can make determinations on where to go (and) how best to implement that mission," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters at his noon briefing at The White House on April 11.

Powell has "a very difficult mission" with "no guarantee of success," said Fleischer, but Bush hopes that it will lead to creating an environment that reduces the violence and leads to a cease-fire, and to a beginning of the political process once again in the Middle East.

In response to questions from reporters as to why the United States has not accomplished more in its quest to stop the violence, Fleischer said "give the Secretary time and let's see how events unfold."

Powell was in Jordan April 11 and was to arrive late in the evening in Israel where he plans to meet with Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon April 12 and with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat the following day.

"What still remains to happen is (for) the three parties on the ground to take the actions" Bush called for in his April 3 Rose Garden speech, Fleischer said.

In that speech, the President called on the Israelis, the Palestinian Authority, and Arab nations in the region to take specific actions to help bring about peace, Fleischer said.

Bush "urged the Palestinian Authority to declare a cease-fire, to agree to implement the Zinni plan and the Tenet accords. He urged the Palestinian Authority to issue orders to security forces to exert maximum effort against terrorist activities. He also urged Chairman Arafat to make public statements denouncing suicide bombings and to renounce violence as a political instrument.

"The President called on the Arab states to do everything possible to stop terrorist activities, to disrupt terrorist financing and stop incitement to violence in the state-owned media. He also urged them to denounce publicly suicide bombings and to use their influence with the Palestinian Authority and other groups to stop the violence.

"Finally, he called on Israel to halt its incursions into the Palestinian areas and begin withdrawing from Palestinian cities recently occupied, including Ramallah, and to acknowledge publicly that the occupation of Palestinian territories must end through a withdrawal to secure recognized borders consistent with U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338," the Press Secretary said.

"Here's where we are," as of now, Fleischer said. "Israel has continued the withdrawal ...that the President called for, in some areas. There are additional incursions in other areas. The President reiterates his call to all three parties that they need to do the very specific things I just walked through. They have not been done yet. The President calls on all the parties to keep working to get them done."

"All the entities I've cited have a responsibility to bear in creating peace in the Middle East in the President's opinion. The burden, the responsibility, does not fall on only one. All three need to step up their responsibilities to achieve peace," said Fleischer.

President Bush "is determined and persistent to try to accomplish that goal. And that's why the Secretary is in the region. "Now, the President will keep at it and will remain committed to helping get it done.

"Obviously, the parties themselves have not made much progress, and that's why the United States can and should and will play a vital role," said the Press Secretary.

Fleischer denied reports that the White House is frustrated with Sharon for not agreeing to Bush's request to withdraw Israeli forces from the West Bank.

He reiterated what he had said earlier in the day to reporters, that Bush believes Israeli's Prime Minister "is a man of peace." Fleischer pointed out that Sharon supports both the Tenet accords and the Mitchell plan to end the fighting and begin a political process.

"What's happened in the Middle East," Fleischer said, is that the suicide
attacks derailed the progress that U.S. Special Middle East Envoy General Anthony Zinni had made through cooperative efforts with Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

"The point the President is stressing now is his deliberate perseverance to emerge from the chaos and the violence with a plan that gets the parties back to peace. That's where his focus is now."

"Given the homicide bombings, the President believed that Israel had a right to defend herself, and the President, as he said in the Rose Garden, believes that enough is enough and he's called on all three - the Palestinian Authority, the Arab nations and Israel -- to now carry out the specific actions he's called for," Fleischer said.

Asked if he thinks Arafat is a man of peace, Fleischer responded: "As the President, himself, has said in the Rose Garden, Yasser Arafat has yet to earn the President's trust."

Bush "is still looking for Chairman Arafat to denounce, in Arabic, suicide bombings and terrorism. That has not happened. The President is still waiting for that to happen," he said.

Fleischer pointed out that since Bush's Rose Garden speech, the United Nations Security Council has spoken out for an end to the violence; the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations have also spoken out. "There's no shortage of people who are following the President's lead in speaking out around the world," he said.

The Press Secretary also reported that President Bush spoke with King Hamad of Bahrain April 11, and said the King expressed his support for the approach that the President outlined in his Rose Garden speech. Bush, in turn, "expressed his deep appreciation for the strong relationship between the United States and Bahrain, and for Bahrain's support for efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East," Fleischer said.

The Press Secretary also announced that Bush plans to meet at the White House April 17 with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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