US President George W. Bush launched a dramatic change of course on the Middle East on Thursday, urging Israel to withdraw from Palestinian areas and ordering Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region to revive ceasefire talks.
Bush, criticized for not doing enough to halt the spiral of violence, signaled intensified US involvement in a hastily arranged speech in which he shifted from largely pressuring Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to stop suicide bombings in Israel to saying that Israel itself must take steps to reduce the atmosphere of violence.
"The storms of violence cannot go on," Bush said in a surprise appearance in the White House Rose Garden with Powell at his side.
"Enough is enough ....When an 18-year-old Palestinian girl is induced to blow herself up and in the process kills a 17-year-old Israeli girl, the future itself is dying -- the future of the Palestinian people and the future of the Israeli people," Bush said.
While Bush repeated his view that Israel had a right to defend itself, he added: "Yet, to lay the foundations of future peace, I ask Israel to halt incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas and begin the withdrawal from those cities it has recently occupied."
Bush did not give a timetable, but senior US officials said the US would like to see the current incursion, which has included the siege of Arafat's Ramallah headquarters, end as soon as possible.
A senior Bush administration official who asked to remain unidentified said the president spoke out now on the need for Israel to halt incursions due to fears that the conflict could spread beyond Israel and the occupied territories.
In his speech, Bush had nothing good to say about Arafat.
"The situation in which he finds himself today is largely of his own making. He has missed his opportunities and thereby betrayed the hopes of his people," he said.
"Given his failure, the Israeli government feels it must strike at the terrorist networks that are killing its citizens."
Bush called on Israel to be compassionate at checkpoints and border crossings, "sparing innocent Palestinians daily humiliation" and said "Israel should take immediate action to ease closures and allow peaceful people to go back to work."
He expressed concern about the plight of the Palestinians in broader terms than he has in recent weeks, saying Israel should show respect for and concern about the dignity of the Palestinian people "who are, and will be, their neighbors."
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