[Powell give terror a green light] U.S. says attack must not wreck Mideast
peace push

[IMRA: A few hours after Mr. Powell explained that murdering Israelis
shouldn't interfere with the road map the 7th Israeli was murdered.]

By Giles Elgood
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters06-08-081804.asp?reg=MIDEAST

WASHINGTON, June 8 - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday
that a combined attack by three militant Palestinian groups that killed four
Israeli soldiers must not be allowed to wreck President George W. Bush's
road map for peace in the Middle East.

''What we have to do now is make sure we don't allow this tragic,
terrible incident to derail the momentum of the road map that got started at
the Sharm el-Sheikh and Aqaba summits last week,'' Powell said in a
television interview.

The attack by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade,
which flew in the face of peace pledges given by Palestinian Prime Minister
Mahmoud Abbas, came only days after Bush traveled to the Middle East for
summit talks to boost U.S.-backed plans for Palestinian statehood by 2005.

Powell said the long-waited ''road map'' was a ''top priority'' for
Bush, but Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon must cooperate to
rein in terrorism.

''We all have to work together to get this terrorism under control
but, at the same time, not let terrorism stop us from moving forward,''
Powell said on ''Fox News Sunday.''

''It is a difficult situation, but if it was an easy situation, it
would have been solved many, many years ago.''

MILITANT GROUPS

Powell said that the United States would give Abbas practical help to
deal with the militant groups. The Palestinian prime minister ruled out
dialogue with Hamas after it suspended truce talks because of Abbas's
conciliatory stance toward Israel.

''He needs to have his police forces rebuilt. He needs
communications. He needs vehicles. He needs a lot,'' Powell said.

Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said the
Palestinian government would need international help to fight militant
groups.

''Those who say that they want peace, and I now mean the Arab
neighbors, will also have to deal with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad
and al-Aqsa Brigades.

''The Palestinian leadership cannot do it alone. People have to cut
off money to these organizations, they have to make sure that they are not
somehow, through contacts, abetting those organizations,'' Rice said on
ABC's ''This Week with George Stephanopoulos.''

Powell singled out Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, with whom the
United States refuses to deal, for criticism, saying he must do more for
peace.

''Yasser Arafat has to play a more positive role than he's been
playing in recent days or over the last couple of years,'' Powell said,
making clear that the United States was throwing its weight behind Abbas
rather than Arafat.

''We've made our choice,'' he said. ''We're going to do everything we
can to help him and his cabinet develop the capability to deal with
terrorism in the Gaza and in the West Bank.

''We have to move in this direction and we are hoping that Israel
will do everything they can to help Prime Minister Abbas.''

But he said it would be ''difficult for Israel to make the difficult
choices that it is expected to make under the road map if it is constantly
being assaulted by terrorists.''