Powell in Israel to meet Sharon

JERUSALEM -- Secretary of State Colin Powell challenged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's limited withdrawal of troops from Palestinian areas Thursday, saying President Bush "wants to see more progress." \nOn his way here, Powell said the pace of the Israeli pullback from West Bank cities and villages would be part of a "very long conversation" he would have with Sharon Friday. Powell talked with the Israeli prime minister by telephone Thursday. \nHe meets with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Saturday. \nDuring a brief stop in the Jordanian capital of Amman, Powell was asked at a news conference whether the pace of Israel's military withdrawal was an affront to Bush. \n"I don't see it as an affront," he said. Still, Powell added, "I think the president has made his position clear: He wants the incursion stopped. He has noted some progress, but he wants to see more progress." \nThe Israeli government said its troops were withdrawing from two towns and 22 villages. But Sharon also said he would keep Israeli troops in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin and Nablus until the terrorists were vanquished. \nPowell met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman and said the king had offered Jordan's help in easing the suffering of Palestinians in the West Bank once a cease-fire is in place. \n"People are dying; people are suffering," the king told CNN.\nHe said he offered Powell his kingdom's support in his peace mission, which he called "a make-it or break-it trip." Abdullah urged Powell to increase pressure on Sharon to withdraw his troops and to accept Arafat as "the legitimate leadership and elected president of the Palestinian people," according to a palace statement issued in Amman after the king's two-hour meeting with Powell. \nThe king urged Powell to work toward a detailed peace plan setting "specific time frames" for a Palestinian state as well as ending the violence and Israeli occupation. \nPreviewing the difficult talks ahead, Powell said, "I go committed to carry forward the president's vision." He said he would press not only for ending the bloodshed, but for "getting a political track started" that would lead to the creation of a secure Palestinian state. \nIt is important, Powell said, "to show the Palestinian people that there is hope out there, hope for them to have their own state, living side by side in peace with Israel." \nIn Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said while Israel was withdrawing some troops, neither side had yet met conditions outlined by Bush to end hostilities. \n"The president calls on all the parties to keep working to get them done," Fleischer said. \nEarlier Thursday, Powell challenged the idea that strong Israeli military action on the West Bank could enhance security from terror. Mirroring an argument pressed by Arab leaders, Powell depicted the Palestinians as angry and frustrated. \n"There will still be people who are willing to resort to violence and terror, people who are willing to use suicide bombs and other kinds of bombs," he said. \nThe prescription he will offer Sharon and Arafat will include statehood for the Palestinians on land held by Israel and U.S. financial assistance to rehabilitate the West Bank from the damage caused by Israeli forces in their drive against terrorists. \nJordan's king, as other Arab leaders, has pressed the Bush administration to persuade Israel to pull back its troops. Jordan has a majority Palestinian population, and anti-U.S. and anti-Israel demonstrations are planned for Friday. \nAsked whether he was on an impossible mission, Powell snapped: "I don't like wallowing with pessimists. It is necessary for me to go." \nMoreover, he added, "I am proud to be going…to get us on a positive track. It is what I should be doing. It is what secretaries of state do." \nThe White House, which had earlier declined to criticize Israel's pace of withdrawal, was a little more guarded Thursday.\n"Here is where we are: Israel has continued the withdrawal that began that the president called for, in some areas. There are additional incursions in other areas," Fleischer said. \nFleischer also noted Bush had urged Arafat to make public statements denouncing suicide bombing and to renounce violence as a political instrument. \nPowell also met with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to plot the talks Bush will hold in Russia beginning May 23 with President Vladimir Putin. \nThey made some headway toward a formal declaration on promised reductions in long-range nuclear warheads to 1,700 to 2,200 over 10 years. \nBut Ivanov said the disposition of the warheads was still under discussions. \nA senior U.S. official said Ivanov had volunteered Russia's help in trying to quiet Israel's border with Lebanon. Ivanov told Powell that Russia was telling the leaders of Syria, Iran and Lebanon to curb Hezbollah guerrillas whose cross-border attacks on Israel could expand the already volatile situation, the official said.