An angry United States tonight
blamed the current Middle East crisis on terrorist attacks against Israelis, demanding anew that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat act against the violence.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell did not endorse Israel's incursion into the West Bank town of Ramallah where Mr Arafat's headquarters was under siege from tank and machine gun fire, but made clear that Washington recognized Israel's right to defend itself.
And he made no explicit call for Israel to withdraw from Ramallah.
"The Israelis have said to me that it is not their intention to occupy any of these areas," Mr Powell said. "They are going in to find terrorists, to pick up weapons and it is not their intention to occupy these places on any long-term basis."
He said he had received assurances from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in telephone call last night that Mr Arafat would not be harmed or killed in the operation and that Israel had no intention of keeping its troops in Ramallah.
"We asked the Israelis to show the necessary restraint with respect to that activity so that they do not put Chairman Arafat's life in danger and they minimize loss of life with respect to civilians," Mr Powell said.
But he appeared not to accept Mr Sharon's characterization of Mr Arafat as an "enemy".
"Chairman Arafat is the leader of the Palestinian people, and his leadership is now even more central to trying to find a way out of this tragic situation," Mr Powell said.
He added that he told Mr Sharon to "carefully consider the consequences" of the military action, but stressed that Washington saw a recent series of Palestinian suicide bombings as the cause for the deteriorating situation.
"Once again, terrorism, terrorism that targets innocent civilians, have dealt a serious blow to the effort to achieve a cease-fire and to find a political solution to the crisis in the Middle East," Mr Powell said at a hastily arranged news conference at the State Department.
Immediately after Mr Powell's brief appearance, he placed a call to Mr Arafat to reiterate the US position, the State Department said.
"Once again, terrorists have set back the vision of the Palestinian people for a state that would live in peace, side by side with Israel," Mr Powell said.
"That's what has caused this crisis to come upon us - not the absence of a political way forward but terrorism in its rawest form," he said.
Mr Powell, speaking after an urgent meeting of President George W. Bush's national security council at the White House, condemned the attacks, specifically mentioning a suicide bombing on Wednesday in the northern Israeli city of Netanya and another today in a Jerusalem supermarket.
"The president, I, all my colleagues, and the United States people condemn in the strongest possible terms this series of terror attacks including this morning's Jerusalem bombing and the other acts of terrorism that have killed Israeli civilians," he said.
At the same time, Mr Powell said he and Mr Bush were "gravely concerned about the situation today in Ramallah," where Mr Arafat said in a television interview that seven Palestinians had been killed and more than 40 injured.
"We deplore the killing and wounding of innocent Palestinians there," Mr Powell said.
"While we understand the Israeli government's need to respond to these acts of terror and the right of the Israeli government to decide what actions best serve the interests of the Israeli people, we call on Prime Minister Sharon and his government to carefully consider the consequences of those actions," he said.
AFP