Bush Says ‘Enough Is Enough,’ Tells Powell to Head to Mideast

Declaring that “enough is enough,” President Bush announced Thursday that he is dispatching Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to the Middle East next week in a bold but risky bid to end the raging violence and get Israel and the Palestinians back to the peace table.

“The storms of violence cannot go on,” Bush said in a Rose Garden speech that included a series of stern messages for Palestinian and Israeli leaders as well as for regional players in the escalating crisis. As basic steps, he called for Israel to withdraw its troops and the Palestinians to end a wave of terror.

The president’s announcement marked a major policy reversal after a week of words but no new action. Bush administration officials said the president decided to act because of the mounting bloodshed and destruction on both sides, but also because of the looming dangers of a wider regional war.

“The world finds itself at a critical moment. This is a conflict that can widen or an opportunity we can seize,” Bush said as Powell stood at his side.

Shortly after Bush spoke, Israeli armor backed by helicopter gunships moved into Palestinian-ruled parts of the divided city of Hebron in an incursion that brought every West Bank city except Jericho under Israeli occupation. The incursion came as Israel tightened its hold on Nablus, the West Bank’s largest city.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says the week-old operation is designed to stop a wave of suicide bombers.

In tough language, the president said Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat finds himself in a situation “largely of his own making” because he has “missed his opportunities and thereby betrayed the hopes of the people he’s supposed to lead.”

Saeb Erekat, the chief negotiator for the Palestinians, said late Thursday in Jerusalem that Arafat accepted Bush’s statement “without conditions” and welcomed Powell’s visit. But the administration hinted that it is fed up with Arafat’s unwillingness to act on his promises by suggesting that Powell also intends to hold talks with other Palestinian leaders--a slap on the wrist as well as a step preparing for a possible post-Arafat era.

Whether Powell meets with Arafat will depend on the outcome of the Palestinian leader’s meeting with U.S. envoy Anthony C. Zinni, which could come today, and Arafat’s success in controlling the violence over the next few days, administration officials said.

But Bush also demanded that Israel withdraw its troops from the cities it has reoccupied during the last week in the West Bank. “Israel must understand that its response to these recent attacks is only a temporary measure,” he said.

In a conspicuous omission, however, the president did not use the word “immediate” as the time frame for the withdrawal, as he did in calling for an immediate cease-fire and an immediate resumption of negotiations.

That wording suggests that the United States may tolerate a few more days of Israel’s incursion. U.S. officials later said Israel should act “very soon” to pull out its forces.

In Israel, the Foreign Ministry welcomed Powell’s visit and promised “to do everything so that his mission will be successful.” But a statement from Sharon’s office said Operation Protective Wall would continue until Israel achieves its goal. A Defense Ministry spokesman predicted that the operation could last seven more weeks.

Bush also called on Israel to halt the expansion of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories and ease border closures. “It is crucial to distinguish between the terrorists and ordinary Palestinians seeking to provide for their own families,” he said. “The Israeli government should be compassionate at checkpoints and border crossings, sparing innocent Palestinians daily humiliation.”

He also said: “Israel faces hard choices of its own. Its government has supported the creation of a Palestinian state that is not a haven for terrorism. Yet Israel must recognize that such a state needs to be politically and economically viable.”

Acknowledging that he has no illusions about the difficulties ahead, Bush said Powell’s trip to the region would include three mandates: implementation of the recently approved U.N. Resolution 1402 to achieve an immediate and meaningful cease-fire; a full Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian cities; and fulfillment of the security plan devised last year by CIA Director George J. Tenet, followed by implementation of a proposal by former Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Maine) for resuming talks on a final settlement of the half-century-old conflict.

Late Thursday, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution endorsing Powell’s mission and demanding an Israeli withdrawal “without delay.”

In a key shift, the administration will push for simultaneous movement on the security and political fronts, after weeks of accepting Israel’s position that a stable cease-fire must be secured before the political process can begin again.

“The new element that I am going to be pressing hard in the days and weeks ahead is that the political component of this process has to be brought forward much more quickly than we might have thought otherwise,” Powell said Wednesday on the CBS program “60 Minutes II.”

“The Palestinian people have to see that there is a political process, a political process that we will get involved in early on through negotiations, which will lead quickly to a Palestinian state,” he said.

Powell is expected to arrive in the region midweek. He will hold talks with leaders in Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, a senior administration official said. But the schedule is still in flux, and no decision has been made on which Palestinians he will see.

Speaking to the wider Arab world, Bush called on its leaders to follow through on the initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, approved at an Arab League summit last week, which offers to engage in “normal relations” with Israel and foster a broader regional peace in exchange for the Jewish state’s withdrawal from land occupied in the 1967 Middle East War and other concessions.

“Arab states must rise to this occasion and accept Israel as a nation and as a neighbor,” the president said.

“As Israel steps back, responsible Palestinian leaders and Israel’s Arab neighbors must step forward and show the world that they are truly on the side of peace,” Bush said.

The president specifically called on the entire region to tackle terrorism by blocking attacks, disrupting extremists’ financial networks and ending the glorification of suicide bombers as martyrs in state-controlled media. “They’re not martyrs,” he said. “They’re murderers.”

The president also issued a strong warning to outsiders who are fanning the flames of extremism. “To those who would try to use the current crisis as an opportunity to widen the conflict--stay out,” he said.

Iran and Syria received specific warnings. Iran’s arms shipments and general support for terrorism fuel the conflict and must stop, Bush said. Syria must both end its support for the extremist groups Hamas and Hezbollah and decide where it stands in the broader war on terrorism, he cautioned.

U.S. officials also cited growing alarm about military exchanges along the Lebanon-Israel border and the risk that Syria could be drawn into the cross-border exchanges between Israeli forces and the Syrian-backed Hezbollah. Growing pressures on Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, countries critical to prospects for a regional peace, are sparking concern about a wider destabilization.

Regional flash points have begun moving the conflict in an explosive new direction, a senior administration official said.

Despite the obstacles ahead, Bush expressed optimism. “America is committed to ending this conflict and beginning an era of peace. We know this is possible, because in our lifetimes, we have seen an end to conflicts that no one thought could end,” he said.

One hopeful note Thursday after Bush’s speech was a tactical reversal by Sharon to permit Zinni to meet Arafat, who has been confined to his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Earlier this week, Sharon--who said he was determined to keep Arafat isolated--had turned down Powell’s request that the two be allowed to meet. On Thursday, a European Union peace mission ended in failure when Israel would not allow two senior envoys to meet Arafat.

But Israeli officials were divided over the call for a halt to Israel’s military offensive. Sharon told Zinni that there can be no negotiations until Palestinian suicide bombings and other armed attacks come to a halt, his spokesman said.

“Israel can defeat terrorism unilaterally, or in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority,” the spokesman said. “And as long as the Palestinians do not cooperate, Israel is within its right to continue military operations.”

Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli army’s chief of staff, said Thursday that the offensive needs three more weeks to achieve its objective, followed by four weeks of “mopping up.” Uzi Landau, minister for public security, warned that stopping the fight now would allow Palestinian militants to regroup and rearm.

*

Times staff writer Richard Boudreaux in Jerusalem contributed to this report.