Powell's frustration as Israel executes another Hamas leader
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Your support makes all the difference.Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, publicly rebuked Israel yesterday for killing a leading Palestinian militant, saying it could be an "impediment" to the peace process. But the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, called the killing of Abdullah Kawasmeh "successful and very important".
And, in what appeared to be a rebuff to the "road-map" peace plan personally backed by President George Bush, Mr Sharon reportedly told his cabinet that Israel should continue building settlements in the occupied territories. The road-map, which Israel has signed up to, calls for a freeze on such settlements.
General Powell was attending a meeting in Jordan of the "Quartet" which drew up the plan - the US, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - to try to rescue the road-map, after initial hopes of progress evaporated in an earlier round of killing.
But on Saturday night, the eve of the Quartet meeting, Israeli special forces killed Mr Kawasmeh, a senior member of Hamas in Hebron. The Israeli army said Mr Kawasmeh pulled a gun and was shot resisting arrest; a Palestinian witness said he was unarmed and the Israeli soldiers assassinated him.
The US has been leaning hard on Israel to curb its policy of assassinating leading Palestinian militants.
General Powell said: "I regret that we continue to find ourselves trapped in this action and counter-action, provocation and reaction to provocation.
"I regret we had an incident that could be an impediment to progress ... I would much rather on a Sunday morning wake up to find that we are moving forward and it was not necessary to have this kind of activity on either side. We have to punch through this."
But in reported remarks to his cabinet yesterday, Mr Sharon appeared seriously to undermine the road-map when he said that Israel could continue building settlements in the occupied territories - but keep quiet about it. An unnamed cabinet official was quoted as saying that Mr Sharon was asked whether building could continue in the large West Bank settlement of Ariel, and he replied that there was no need to make a big deal every time a building permit was issued. "We just build," the cabinet official quoted Mr Sharon as saying.
Despite the admonishment from General Powell, Mr Sharon said Israel's operations against Hamas would continue. He demanded that the Palestinian Authority "act in the most serious manner against terrorist organisations", and said that if it did not: "We will continue our activities to provide security."
The Palestinian Prime Minister, Abu Mazen, has been trying unsuccessfully to persuade Hamas to agree to a ceasefire.
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