Powell Launches Effort to Stop Israeli-Palestinian Violence
Voice of America
David Gollust
State Department
12 Jun 2003, 15:36 UTC
Secretary of State Colin Powell says he is telephoning leaders throughout the Middle East to try to persuade them to in his words, "put the hammer down" on Hamas and other Palestinian groups he says are trying to wreck chances for progress on the "road map" to an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.
Mr. Powell says it would be a "disaster" if the opportunity presented by the "road map" was lost because of terrorism. Opening an economic conference here, Mr. Powell said he is engaged in a burst of telephone diplomacy with Middle East leaders, to try to get them to speak out against terrorist factions, to stop funding them, and stop allowing resources to go to them:
"I've been on the phone most of the morning, talking to the leaders in the region, to encourage them to come down hard on Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and these other terrorist organizations, that are determined to deny us this opportunity for peace, who are determined to deny the Palestinian people the opportunity to have their own homeland," he said.
Mr. Powell said he wanted every leader in the Middle East to take a stand on this issue. He is due to return to the region next week and may convene a meeting of the sponsors of the "road map" on the sidelines of an international conference in Jordan.
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