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Powell calls Hamas an `enemy of peace'

"The pace and urgency of our work needs to be maintained in order to capitalize quickly and decisively on this moment that history has given to us."

Colin Powell, US secretary of state

Calling Hamas an "enemy of peace," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Palestinian Authority must strip the group of its terror network and that negotiating a truce -- as the Palestinian prime minister has been doing -- is not sufficient.

As Powell spoke Friday at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, an Israeli-American motorist was killed and his wife and parents were wounded in a Hamas shooting attack in the West Bank.

Since a Mideast peace summit two weeks ago, 27 Israelis and 40 Palestinians have been killed. Four of the Palestinians were killed while carrying out attacks on Israelis.

Powell said the violence was all the more reason to implement a US-backed peace plan, which was launched at the summit.

"The pace and urgency of our work needs to be maintained in order to capitalize quickly and decisively on this moment that history has given to us," Powell said after meetings with Sharon and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

Powell singled out Hamas as an "enemy of peace." The Islamic militant group has killed hundreds of Israelis in recent years and has been trying to scuttle peace efforts, including the latest plan, the so-called "road map" to Palestinian statehood by 2005.

"We must make sure that all international pressure possible is brought to bear on these organizations, so that they know they will not succeed, they will not prevail, they will be dealt with," Powell said, referring to the Palestinian militias, including Hamas.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader, responded angrily to Powell's comments, calling him a "big liar."

"This is a statement that reflects and proves that he is a little slave to the Zionists and to his master Sharon, that he is the real enemy of peace and justice in the world," he said.

Powell met later with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who has been trying to negotiate the terms of a ceasefire with Hamas. Abbas has said he will not launch a crackdown for fear of triggering a civil war.

After meeting with Powell, Abbas demanded Israel take immediate steps to ease restrictions on Palestinians and "change itself from an enemy into a partner."

Abbas said Israel should release thousands of Palestinian detainees, lift travel restrictions, end settlement building and stop demolishing Palestinian houses.

"The logic of confrontation cannot match the logic of peace," Abbas said.

Powell said that he and Abbas spoke mainly about the security arrangements. Powell said that he again stressed that the Palestinian attacks must end.

"Violence and terror is not the way to build a state," he said.

Sharon said that there will be no progress on the road map as long as attacks continue. He said Palestinians must realize that a decisive war on terrorism "is the way to make way and move ahead in a sincere and genuine process."

However, there appeared to be differences between the two leaders on how much time the Palestinian security forces should be given to get organized.

Powell urged both sides to show patience, while Sharon suggested that once the Palestinians have accepted security responsibility in areas from which Israel withdraws, they will be held accountable for any attacks launched from those areas.

Israel and the Palestinians are also at odds over Israel's targeted killings of wanted Palestinians and the scope of Israel's withdrawal from parts of the Gaza Strip.

Both issues were discussed, without result, at a meeting between Israeli and Palestinian security officials and US monitors late Thursday.

Palestinians say that in order to persuade militant groups, particularly Hamas, to accept a ceasefire deal, they need an Israeli guarantee that targeted killings will be halted.

Sharon refuses to give such a blanket promise, saying he reserves the right to go after "ticking bombs," a term generally understood to refer to an assailant about to carry out an attack. However, Sharon's aides have said this also applies to those planning attacks.

In trying to kill Rantisi in a missile strike last week, Israel referred to him as a ticking bomb. Rantisi, who was wounded, is a Hamas spokesman and has insisted he has no ties to the military wing.

Powell suggested Friday that a broad definition of a ticking bomb is not acceptable.

Powell said that agreement has not yet been reached on the terms of an Israeli withdrawal from large parts of Gaza, but said that there was some progress.
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