U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Saturday that a discussion on the right of return for Palestinians to Israel was a matter that should not hold up the implementation of the road map, and was an issue that would be discussed between the two sides "in due course."
Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem after meeting with Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Powell said there was sufficient common ground between the sides to begin the implementation of the internationally-brokered road map for Middle East peace.
"There is enough agreement on the road map that we can get started," said Powell, who arrived in Israel on Saturday evening at the start of a trip to promote the peace plan.
Powell will meet Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his newly-appointed Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in Jericho.
The secretary of state called for an end to "terrorism," and expressed the need to prevent organizations that have conducted "terror activities" from continuing to do so. These groups cannot be allowed to continue to constitute a threat to Israel, he said.
During his trip, Powell is also expected to ask for an expression of Israel's unambiguous support for the road map and call on the Palestinians to take action to halt "terrorism."
Powell told reporters traveling with him from Washington that one positive step was Sharon's apparent decision to drop Israel's longtime insistence that all violence against its citizens must end as a condition for the peace process to move ahead.
"I haven't heard Israelis talk of total calm," Powell said. "They are saying they are looking for a lot of effort and intent" by the new Palestinian leaders to stop "terror attacks."
The secretary of state was to ask Israel for gestures such as the removal of military road blocks, the lifting closures on population centers, increasing the number of Palestinian workers allowed into the country, the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, and the removal of illegal settlement outposts in the territories.
"The road map is controversial," Powell told reporters on his plane before it landed in Tel Aviv. "There are elements that one party or the other might not like. We need to get started... and not enter a prolonged debate."
"We know what has to be done in the very first steps of the first stage so let's get on with it. It's pretty clear - action on security on the Palestinian side and on the Israeli side, doing everything [Israel] can to ease closures, ease the difficulties that the Palestinian people have in moving around."
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
