Washington — There is no way to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict unless the cycle of violence that has gripped the area for six months is stopped, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday, outlining the Bush administration's Mideast policy to Congress.
"Only when we start going back down that escalator of violence can we start to see the opportunity for getting negotiations started again on the peace process," Powell told the House Budget Committee in asking for $23.9 billion for international spending in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
Boosting the Palestinian economy and the Israeli security is the immediate goal, Powell said. "And what we have been doing in every way we know how is encouraging the leaders in the region to recognize that we're not going to move forward" unless the violence is stopped, he said.
"It is a dangerous area," Powell said as he seemed to endorse the view of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that peacemaking cannot proceed without a significant reduction in violence.
Sharon is due in Washington next week for a meeting with President Bush on Tuesday and a speech the night before to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobby.
The Clinton administration, taking a somewhat different approach, pursued peacemaking amid bloodshed, denounced terrorists as enemies of peace and said violence would not deter U.S. mediation between Israel and the Arabs.
But Powell said, "We're not going to find a way for these two people to live in peace and harmony, and for them to achieve their God-given dreams and ambitions, unless the cycle of violence is stopped and we start going back down."
In another change, Powell said he will not appoint a permanent envoy to pursue Arab-Israeli negotiations, but has named William Burns as assistant secretary of state for the Near East, an entire region.
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