Powell Puts Blame on Palestinian Terror

As Israeli tanks rumbled through the compound of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat on Friday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell placed the blame for the latest Mideast upheaval squarely on Palestinian terrorists. But he said the United States will forge ahead with its latest diplomatic effort to work out a cease-fire.

“Let’s be clear about what brought it all to a halt: terrorism,” Powell said in an appearance at the State Department. “Terrorism . . . has dealt a serious blow to the effort to achieve a cease-fire.”

Powell also made clear, however, that despite Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s wrath toward Arafat, the Bush administration continues to view Arafat as the legitimate leader of the Palestinians and a figure who can contribute to bringing about peace.

“Chairman Arafat is the leader of the Palestinian people, and his leadership is now even more central to trying to find a way out of this tragic situation,” Powell said.

Powell urged Arafat to end the wave of suicide bombings that have killed 25 this week alone. He said the Israeli response was understandable, and though he advised caution, there was no U.S. call for Israel to withdraw its tanks and troops from Arafat’s compound.

“While we understand the Israeli government’s need to respond to these acts of terror and the right of the Israeli government to decide what actions best serve the interests of the Israeli people, we call on Prime Minister Sharon to carefully consider the consequences,” Powell said.

“It’s a very difficult situation. Israel is trying to defend itself,” he said.

Seeking to deflect criticism that the Bush administration has not been fully engaged in settling the conflict, Powell listed signs of recent progress and insisted that the two sides had been approaching agreement before the latest suicide bombings disrupted the talks.

“We had a process moving forward. We have some successes over the past week or two,” Powell said. “And then, suddenly, the bombing of the night before last, the bombing again today, the random shootings--all done by terrorists who do not want to see peace.”

President Bush, on vacation in Texas, had no comment on the situation, though aides said he was talking with national security officials. White House officials believe it would serve no purpose to have Bush appear publicly while events are fluid and murky, aides said. They added that he might have something to say over the weekend.

Powell said that despite the spike in violence, the administration’s Mideast envoy, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, would remain in the region to press for the U.S. peace initiative. He said the administration was considering every alternative but that he himself would go to the Middle East “only when there is a reason to go.”

Aides said Powell talked by phone Friday with Sharon, Arafat and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, among others.

Some commentators sympathetic to the Palestinians faulted Powell for failing to criticize the Israeli push into the West Bank.

“To the Palestinians, it looks like the United States has sided almost entirely with the Israelis,” Edward G. Abington Jr., a former U.S. diplomat and advisor to the Palestinians, told CNN.

But some analysts said the administration was probably reluctant to be seen as pressuring Israel after the carnage of the last few days.

“There’s a sense of outrage and sympathy at this latest Passover eve bombing,” said Philip C. Wilcox Jr., a former U.S. diplomat in Israel who is president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, a Washington think tank. “Perhaps the Americans didn’t think this was the time to lean on the Israelis.”

Wilcox said Powell’s words suggested that the fundamental approach of the Bush administration remains unchanged. The administration clearly still believes that the focus must be on halting terrorist bombings as the first step toward a cease-fire, he said.

In his comments, Powell sought to build a case that there has been movement toward peace in recent weeks.

He pointed out that Arab League leaders this week voted for a Saudi Arabia peace proposal that would give Israel acceptance by its Arab neighbors in return for a withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders and other concessions.

He noted that earlier this month, the United Nations passed a Security Council resolution introduced by the United States that called for a Palestinian state.

Powell also maintained that Sharon had shown “a great deal of flexibility” in negotiations over a cease-fire plan laid out by CIA Director George J. Tenet.

“In recent weeks, there was a cause for guarded optimism,” he said.

The secretary urged other world leaders to join in calling for an end to the terrorist attacks.

“At this critical moment, we call on our friends throughout the international community to condemn terror unequivocally,” he said.

But some important U.S. allies were critical of Israel. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, urged Israel to look for a nonmilitary solution.

“Military means are not going to solve the problem of terrorism,” said Cristina Gallach, a Solana spokeswoman.

France demanded an Israeli withdrawal from Arafat’s compound and insisted that “Israeli authorities respect the security and the physical integrity of Mr. Arafat,” in the words of a Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov said Israel’s announced intention to isolate Arafat “is not the way that could help find a political solution to the current situation.”

Bush spent the day at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. By midmorning, said Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, the president had conferred several times by telephone with Powell and Condoleezza Rice, national security advisor.

Johndroe said Bush also convened a meeting of the National Security Council, which met using a secure videoconference hookup for more than an hour.

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Times staff writer James Gerstenzang in Crawford contributed to this report.