US Secretary of State Colin Powell departed Wshington on Sunday night for Morocco to embark on a peace-seeking mission for the Middle East.
In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" earlier in the day,Powell said his mission is to first consult with the United States' Arab friends.
"I'll begin doing that tomorrow in Morocco with Crown Prince Abdullah, who is the author of the very important Saudi initiative that gives us a vision for how Israel can live in peace with its Arab neighbors," Powell said.
"I'll see King Mohammed in Morocco,then on to Egypt to consult with President Mubarak," he said.
Powell would then go to Spain for a day or so to meet with the European Union leaders, United Nations' Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov before heading back in the Middle East to Jerusalem, where he will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Powell said he will try to speak to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "if circumstances permit" and urged Arafat to call publicly for a halt to violence.
He said he did not expect to achieve a peace treaty in this trip, but he would spend "whatever time and effort" is necessary to try to defuse the current Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
Also on Sunday, Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the US president understands the Israelis' difficulties to immediately pull out its forces from Palestinian areas, but he does expect they start the process.
"While he does expect Israel to begin the withdrawal without delay, he understands that it can't be helter-skelter and chaotic. But he does expect this withdrawal to begin," she told CNN's "LateEdition."
At a joint press conference with the visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair at his Texas ranch and during a 20-minute telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Saturday, Bush called on Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank without delay.
However, a statement issued by Sharon's office justified continued Israeli military operations by saying Israel was operating in difficult conditions in the West Bank towns and villages.
"There are a great deal of weapons, explosives and armed terrorists," the statement said without mentioning when the operations would end.
But Rice noted "the important point is to begin now. Without delay. Not tomorrow, not when Secretary Powell gets to the region,but now."
She said the Bush's message was clear that "it is time to beginthe withdrawal and to change the dynamics of this situation, because the foundations for peace are somewhat in danger here."
The Israeli forces began incursions into the West Bank and Gazalast week in response to a series of suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians, including one on Passover that killed 27 peoplein the northern Israeli port city of Netanya.
A day after telling Bush he would "expedite" the Israeli offensive in the West Bank, Sharon said on Sunday his army's operations were "decisive" to Israel's hopes of living in peace and mentioned no timetable for withdrawal.
Meanwhile, Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, criticized US policy in the region as one-sided and ineffectual.
Erakat also slammed Washington for not sending Powell directly to the conflicting area, "where every hour could be the differencein saving a Palestinian's life or an Israeli's life", and not promising that he would meet Arafat.
"It's absolutely unacceptable to see President Bush try to delegitimize President Arafat," Erakat said. "Arafat is our president, and this should be respected."
(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2002)
