'This is dangerous'

Palestinian and Arab leaders placed everything on Colin Powell's mission to the region. He delivered nothing, writes Graham Usher from Jerusalem
When US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in the region last week it seemed as if he was carrying a clear mandate from his president: broker a Palestinian- Israeli ceasefire based on the Israeli army's "immediate" withdrawal from the West Bank Palestinian cities it had reoccupied.
On Wednesday Powell wrapped up his mission after holding three meetings with Ariel Sharon and two with Yasser Arafat. He admitted, essentially, that no ceasefire was in sight because no withdrawal had occurred.
In between times he remained passive while Israel withdrew from Tulkarm and Qalqiliyya only to re- conquer them as well as three Palestinian villages in occupied East Jerusalem.
He accepted Sharon's judgment that with the devastation of Nablus and Jenin almost completed, Israeli soldiers "should" be out of the two cities "within a week." But he gave no rebuttal when he heard Sharon also say that the withdrawal would be to new "buffer zones" on the edge of the cities to enable the army to re-invade them if there is not "quiet."
As for the military sieges on Arafat's presidential headquarters and Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, these are to continue until the Palestinian Authority hands over to Israeli custody Palestinian fugitives trapped in both. "It's surrender or exile," said Sharon's spokesman, Ranaan Gissam, vis-a-vis the Bethlehem stand off. It neatly summarises the Israeli Prime Minister's entire strategy towards the Palestinians.
Finally, Sharon lopped off a major head of the national Palestinian leadership by arresting Marwan Barghouti in Ramallah on Monday.
The significance of the capture is not simply that Barghouti is West Bank General-Secretary of Fatah, the most powerful and popular of the PLO factions. He is also an elected deputy to the Palestinian legislative. His arrest gives tangible effect to Sharon's designation of the PA as "a regime of terror." It is also a signal that Arafat's national and elected status no longer provides any kind of immunity.
Powell was non-committal. Where pressure was exerted it was solely on Arafat, forcing him again to condemn Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians after suicide attacks in Haifa and West Jerusalem.
As for diplomacy, he spent most of his meetings with the Palestinians trying to extract another declaration from Arafat that would denounce "terrorism," provide security commitments to Israel and support a "regional conference" that would somehow square Sharon's goal of a long-term interim arrangement with the Saudi and now Arab peace initiative.
Arafat agreed to all on condition that Israel withdrew first from the Palestinian areas. Powell said he had no timetable for an Israeli pull back. The Palestinians said there could be no cease-fire without one.
So what was Powell about? A Palestinian source close to the negotiations gives her verdict: "It became pretty clear that he met with Arafat only to assuage Arab leaders. He had no plan or offer. He showed little interest in Tenet and Mitchell since he knows a ceasefire is impossible in these circumstances. He avoided the political track because he knows negotiations are impossible with Sharon. His main effort was in trying to convert the Palestinian issue from a political case to a humanitarian one."
If this truly is where the Americans are putting the emphasis, the alarm expressed by the Palestinian leadership on Powell's visit is wholly understandable.
"Two weeks ago there was one Palestinian Authority," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. "Now there are 3.3 million Palestinian authorities, 3.3 million people who feel they have nothing left to lose. We hoped Powell would achieve an immediate Israeli withdrawal. This did not happen. This is dangerous."
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