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Powell Calls for Curbing Violence in Middle East
US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday appealed for restraint in the Middle East to curb the violence and get the economic activity moving again.
Answering questions from reporters after a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the U.N. headquarters here this afternoon, Powell said he and Annan specifically talked about the situation in Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza which he described as "very troubling."
"Both of us have been talking to leaders in the region and encouraging them to act as leaders and statesmen to get the violence down and get the economic activity moving again so that people can see hope in their lives once again," said Powell.
"And only then, can we move on to see what the step is in the quest for peace," he said.
Powell described the period while the rest of the world is waiting for the Israeli prime minister-designate to form his government as a time for restraint, a time for patience and a time for everybody to control their passions and not move in the direction of escalating violence.
"So we encouraged all sides, and all other nations in the region and all other nations which can help with economic problems the Palestinians are facing to do everything they can now" to give a sense of hope to the Palestinian people by providing economic assistance.
Answering a question concerning the international criminal court, Powell said the Bush administration does not support the international criminal court and has no plans to send the treaty on establishing such a court signed by the Clinton administration to the Senate for ratification. The Clinton administration signed the treaty establishing the court on December 31 last year, hours before the deadline for signature.
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