Powell open to meet with Mideast leaders

WASHINGTON -- Under intense pressure for the administration to take a higher-profile role in Middle East peacemaking, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday he was weighing a meeting with Israeli and Arab leaders during a trip to Europe next week.

"My mind is open," Powell told reporters at the State Department. "We are examining all possibilities. I would not rule out meeting with anybody where it would serve a useful purpose."

"I think we have been engaged from the very first day of this administration," Powell said. He admitted "there might be a slight difference in focus" between the United States and its European allies.

Powell is to leave Monday for Germany and talks with German officials. He then is to go to Spain to meet with European foreign ministers and with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

Powell and Ivanov are making preparations for the talks Presidents Bush and Vladimir Putin will hold next month in Russia. On a crucial issue, reducing U.S. and Russian stockpiles of long-range nuclear weapons, Powell said he was encouraged that a "legally binding agreement" would be ready.

In the Middle East, the Bush administration is under pressure from Arab and European leaders, and also from a few members of Congress, to involve itself more deeply in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Powell said he hoped the crisis was not creating differences with the Europeans. "I think we have done so well to stay together and unified that I am going to work hard to make sure we do stay together and unified," he said.

New mediation needed

The president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, said American mediation has failed "and we need new mediation" to keep the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from ballooning into all-out regional war. The commission is the EU's executive branch.

Union foreign ministers were meeting Wednesday in Luxembourg to consider Prodi's proposal of negotiations to involve not only the United States but the EU, the United Nations, Russia, moderate Arab states, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Powell suggested a decision whether he should meet with Israeli and Arab ministers depended on developments in the next few days.

It was not clear how the situation might unfold, he said, but his schedule was "in flux."

He added: "I would not rule out any meetings with anybody where it would serve a useful purpose."

In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes II," Powell said he was reviewing what he should do. "It's not out of the question that I might go to the region," he said. "It depends. ... I have to go to the region if I have a purpose that I can serve, and there is something concrete to be done."

The White House renewed its support of Israel's right to self-defense and offered no hint of criticism of the expanded battle with Palestinian gunmen on the West Bank.

Arab leaders are demanding President Bush force Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw Israeli troops from embattled Palestinian-held areas. Fierce fighting is under way in Bethlehem, and the Israelis are pushing into other cities.

On Wednesday, Egypt announced suspension of all diplomatic contacts with Israel except those that "serve the Palestinian cause."

The State Department urged Egypt to maintain "the closest possible contact" with Israel "at this sensitive time." "We believe that dialogue is important," spokeswoman Susan Pittman said.

"The president's position remains clear," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "It's what he's been saying for days, that in the wake of the suicide bombings and the attacks that took place in Israel, he understands and respects Israel's right to defend herself."

He said the Bush administration would keep trying to bring the parties together. But, he said, "Realistically speaking, if you live on the ground in the Middle East today and there is so much violence, it makes it much harder to enter into meaningful political talks until the violence can be diminished, eliminated or brought under control."

An adviser to Sharon, Dore Gold, said Israel deeply appreciated Bush's backing and his refusal to be "lured into the trap of an interventionist policy that will not solve anything at this point."

On the other hand, Richard Murphy, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state, said during a visit to Syria that he was not satisfied "with the depth of involvement of the American government in trying to restart political negotiations."

Murphy, a former ambassador to Damascus, said the Bush administration should take more interest in achieving peace in the region.

On Capitol Hill, a senior Republican senator, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, also urged the administration to become more active.

Specter said Powell should not wait until the fighting ebbs before traveling to the Middle East. "It's nice to go when you've got it all worked out, and you can have a triumphant trip, but you can't go to bat and expect to hit a home run every time," Specter said.

In the House, however, Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said he had advised caution. "We don't want to jump into the middle of this," Hastert said during a political trip to Birmingham, Ala.

Powell met for 1 1/2 hours with Arab-American leaders, who requested immediate implementation of U.N. resolutions demanding that Israel withdraw and an international peacekeeping force to provide security and protection for both sides.

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said "we want a firm and forceful and balanced American intervention. The bloodshed must stop. Protection must be provided. And Israelis and Palestinians both must be secure."

American sympathies lie more with the Israelis than the Palestinians -- by a 5-to-1 margin, according to a CBS News poll out Wednesday.