JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) vowed during a trouble-shooting mission on Friday that the United States would "blast through" those behind violence that has battered a plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Powell, on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories to try to salvage the U.S.-backed "road map," said a surge of bloodletting in which more than 50 people on both sides had been killed in two weeks had re-energized Washington's peace efforts.
"President Bush (news - web sites) is committed that we must...keep moving forward and push through, blast through those who would try to stop us, who would try to keep us from our goal of peace through acts of violence and terror," Powell told reporters after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
Powell, who also met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) in Jerusalem, said he would press Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas not just to reach a cease-fire deal with militants but to eliminate their capacity to attack Israelis.
Powell was intent on refocusing both leaders on commitments they made at a June 4 peace summit with President Bush in Jordan in which they affirmed a peace "road map" that envisions the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
But sources on both sides saw little chance of a breakthrough during Powell's seven-hour stint of shuttle diplomacy.
Since the summit, a new cycle of bloody attacks and counter-attacks have raised alarm that the peace plan would quickly succumb to hardline foes of territorial compromise on both sides. Disputes over who should do what first have defined the first obstacles on the road map confronting U.S. mediators.
Abbas's efforts to nudge powerful militant factions into a cease-fire have been fruitless so far. They have rejected the notion unless Israel ends military action.
Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs also faced difficulties trying to hammer out a deal on an Israeli troop pullback in the northern Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and West Bank city of Bethlehem as proving grounds for wider military withdrawals.
After talks with Sharon, Powell was to head to the West Bank town of Jericho to see Abbas, a moderate whom Washington has embraced after shunning Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites). Powell returns to Jordan later in the day for an economic conference this weekend.
SOLDIERS CLASH WITH SETTLERS
On the eve of Powell's visit, Israeli soldiers clashed with hardline Jewish settlers for hours before managing to tear down their outpost on occupied West Bank territory.
Uprooting dozens of such outposts, established without Israeli government authorization, is one of the reciprocal steps charted by the road map to bolster peacemaking.
The disturbances came hours after a suicide bomber from a Palestinian militant group opposed to co-existence with Israel killed a shopkeeper in the north of the country.
In the Gaza Strip early on Friday, a bicycle laden with explosives blew up near a border crossing with Israel guarded by Israeli soldiers, the army said. No one was injured.
"We have to end violence and the potential for violence," Powell said on Friday.
Powell had also made clear on Thursday the road map depended on restraint by Israel, whose right-wing government accepted the plan only under heavy U.S. pressure.
He said it was "understandable" for Israel to target militants identified as imminent threats to carry out suicide bombings, but trying to assassinate their prominent political leaders was counterproductive.
Powell, on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories to try to salvage the U.S.-backed "road map," said a surge of bloodletting in which more than 50 people on both sides had been killed in two weeks had re-energized Washington's peace efforts.
"President Bush (news - web sites) is committed that we must...keep moving forward and push through, blast through those who would try to stop us, who would try to keep us from our goal of peace through acts of violence and terror," Powell told reporters after meeting Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
Powell, who also met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) in Jerusalem, said he would press Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas not just to reach a cease-fire deal with militants but to eliminate their capacity to attack Israelis.
Powell was intent on refocusing both leaders on commitments they made at a June 4 peace summit with President Bush in Jordan in which they affirmed a peace "road map" that envisions the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
But sources on both sides saw little chance of a breakthrough during Powell's seven-hour stint of shuttle diplomacy.
Since the summit, a new cycle of bloody attacks and counter-attacks have raised alarm that the peace plan would quickly succumb to hardline foes of territorial compromise on both sides. Disputes over who should do what first have defined the first obstacles on the road map confronting U.S. mediators.
Abbas's efforts to nudge powerful militant factions into a cease-fire have been fruitless so far. They have rejected the notion unless Israel ends military action.
Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs also faced difficulties trying to hammer out a deal on an Israeli troop pullback in the northern Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and West Bank city of Bethlehem as proving grounds for wider military withdrawals.
After talks with Sharon, Powell was to head to the West Bank town of Jericho to see Abbas, a moderate whom Washington has embraced after shunning Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites). Powell returns to Jordan later in the day for an economic conference this weekend.
SOLDIERS CLASH WITH SETTLERS
On the eve of Powell's visit, Israeli soldiers clashed with hardline Jewish settlers for hours before managing to tear down their outpost on occupied West Bank territory.
Uprooting dozens of such outposts, established without Israeli government authorization, is one of the reciprocal steps charted by the road map to bolster peacemaking.
The disturbances came hours after a suicide bomber from a Palestinian militant group opposed to co-existence with Israel killed a shopkeeper in the north of the country.
In the Gaza Strip early on Friday, a bicycle laden with explosives blew up near a border crossing with Israel guarded by Israeli soldiers, the army said. No one was injured.
"We have to end violence and the potential for violence," Powell said on Friday.
Powell had also made clear on Thursday the road map depended on restraint by Israel, whose right-wing government accepted the plan only under heavy U.S. pressure.
He said it was "understandable" for Israel to target militants identified as imminent threats to carry out suicide bombings, but trying to assassinate their prominent political leaders was counterproductive.
