Reality distorts Powell's 'vision'
By Phil Reeves in Jerusalem
21 November 2001
Only hours after Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, had made his speech spelling out America's "vision" for peace in the Middle East, Israeli army bulldozers were flattening houses in the Gaza Strip.
And Israel defiantly announced it plans to construct homes for Jews in the West Bank city of Hebron – despite Mr Powell's remarks about the harm caused to peace-making by Israeli settlement building in the occupied territories.
As Middle East analysts picked over the speech in search for a sign of a significant change in US policy, the picture on the ground remained dismal.
Palestinian families in the Rafah refugee camp, in Gaza, were again picking their possessions out of homes reduced to rubble.
Israeli officials continued to insist they were acting in the name of "security" – clamping down on trouble spots where Yasser Arafat's forces have consistently failed to do so. They said the new Hebron homes were merely replacing existing mobile homes – although this will not convince peace campaigners, who say Israel has continued creating new settlements in violation of a coalition agreement between the government's two largest parties.
Israel was also fending off new allegations of human rights abuses.
Amnesty International told the UN's Committee Against Torture yesterday that it has failed to act on the strong evidence that law-enforcement agencies are increasingly using torture. And the UN Children's Fund called on Israel to release 160 Palestinian children in its jails and to stop using violence against young detainees.
General Powell's speech – carefully filleted of any specifics so as to avoid causing any upsets – was welcomed by Israeli officials, who were relieved it contained no surprises and approved of its call for an immediate end to the intifada.
The applause from the Palestinian leadership was more muted, and was mostly won by his references to "occupation" and a "viable Palestinian state". Both sides agreed it offered nothing new, but could herald deeper US involvement in trying to resolve the conflict.
Attention is now trained on the two US envoys whom Mr Powell is dispatching to the region on Sunday to try to break the gridlock – William Burns, assistant US Secretary of State for the Near East, and Anthony Zinni, a retired General in the US Marines and former commander of American forces in the Middle East.
Interest has particularly focussed on General Zinni, who is one of a small group of high-powered Pentagon soldier-diplomats with a reputation for being dogged negotiators in the world's toughest regions. Israeli officials have been studying his credentials closely, noting with approval that he has taken a hard line on Iraq, but with alarm that he has good relations with a number of Arab countries.
The key question is not what Mr Powell says, but what the US – through its envoys – does at ground level. Doubts abound over whether Mr Sharon wants anything more than an end to the violence, and over whether – the Palestinians – having so far gained nothing from the intifada – are ready to give up their guerrilla war.