Powell-  Palestinian Uprising Should End

December 27, 2004

“This will only happen when terrorism ends. But the uprising has helped spread terrorism and has not accomplished anything during these years, except adding to the deterioration of the Palestinian economic situation and the deterioration of living standards in general among Palestinians,” he said.“The uprising has prevented us from achieving progress in several peace plans,” Powell said.

Last year, the quartet of Middle East peace mediators—the U.S., Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations—adopted the so-called “Road Map” peace plan calling for mutual steps toward an interim Palestinian state in 2005. Ministers of the group said after a September meeting that no significant progress has been made in implementing it.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell,
quoted by Reuters, September 29, 2004