Powell Urges Israel to Switch Its Tactics and Start Talking

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Tuesday that Israel’s recent military campaign to blunt a Palestinian uprising is not working and that it is time to try negotiations.

“If mortars continue to be fired, and your sharp responses don’t produce the desired results, it suggests to me that it’s time for both sides to find ways to [decrease] the cycle of violence,” said Powell, a career soldier. “And that’s what we’re desperately trying to find a way to do now.”

Powell defended the Bush administration’s approach to the Middle East crisis before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee in response to pro-Israel members. The lawmakers have urged a firmer line in support of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s effort to put down the Palestinian uprising.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) complained that Powell seemed to have emboldened Palestinian militants by accusing Israel of using “disproportionate” force in responding to Palestinian mortar attacks. “It would be my request that while the Palestinians are inciting the violence that we be even more circumspect in what we say,” Specter said.

Powell responded that, as a retired general, he understands a nation’s right to fight back.

“But in exercising that inherent right of self-defense, if you don’t want to make the situation even worse, I think that the response has to be very carefully calibrated and proportionate,” he said.

Later in the day, Powell met with Mahmoud Abbas, a top deputy to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher described the meeting as “a good and useful and long discussion.”

It was the first time a top Bush administration official welcomed a major Palestinian figure to Washington. Officials have privately confirmed that President Bush has withdrawn the White House welcome mat for Arafat until the Palestinian leader finds a way to dampen the level of violence.