POWELL: Palestinians to Mull Gaza Deal

Sunday, May 15, 2004

(11:10 PM ET)

By Barry Schweid

Associated Press Writer

Powell said time is running out on Bush's pledge to create a Palestinian state in 2005. ``I don't think anybody can predict right now whether we will be able to achieve 2005 or not,'' Powell said, ``but right now, it's more important to get started and let's see progress, and then we'll see what date that state can be achieved in.''

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, left, stands with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, right, during a joint press conference at the Royal Jordanian hall in Amman airport, Saturday May 15, 2004. Powell urged Qureia to "seize the opportunity" of a proposed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as a first step toward statehood next year. Powell also said time is running out on President George W. Bush's pledge to create a Palestinian state in 2005.

Image Credit: Hussein Malla -- AP

SOUTHERN SHUNEH, Jordan -- AP
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Saturday the Palestinians are willing to consider a proposed Israeli pullout from Gaza depending on how Prime Minister Ariel Sharon revises a plan rejected by his party.

``I think that the Palestinians want to seize this opportunity,'' Powell said after a 40-minute meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia in Amman, the Jordanian capital. ``They want to know more about it, of course.''

So, too, does the Bush administration, Powell later told ministers from some 50 nations, including Israel, at an economic conference at this Dead Sea resort.

Sharon lost a struggle with hard-liners in his own Likud party with the May 2 defeat of his plan to evacuate all soldiers and the 7,500 Jewish settlers from the coastal strip. The prime minister is revising the proposal to make it palatable to a broad range of Israelis.

``And so we are all waiting to see what the actual plan is, and to see the details of that plan,'' Powell said at a joint news conference with Qureia at the Amman airport.

Qureia, whose authority is unclear because Yasser Arafat remains the Palestinian leader, described the meeting as ``very, very constructive.''

``I believe it will reflect itself on the ground, hopefully very soon,'' Qureia said.

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2004 © The Associated Press.

Dan