By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Emphasizing that no issue is "of a higher priority to the United States," Secretary of State Colin Powell strongly condemned the escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Speaking before the House Appropriations Committee March 6, Powell criticized both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

"I'm not satisfied that both sides have thought through the consequences of the policies they're following," said Powell. "Both sides are following policies right now that will just lead to more violence."

Secretary Powell specifically took aim at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's policies, saying his declaration of war against the Palestinians would lead nowhere.

"Prime Minister Sharon has to take a hard look at his policies to see whether they will work. If you declare war against the Palestinians thinking that you can solve the problem by seeing how many Palestinians can be killed, I don't know that that leads us anywhere," said Powell.

Palestinians, said Powell, are currently "under enormous difficulty," since they are unable to get jobs or to conduct commerce.

Congressman Dan Miller, a Republican from Florida, also criticized Israeli policies, saying that it appeared Israeli vigilante groups had blown up a Palestinian school. Miller likewise condemned Israeli road closures and their effect upon the Palestinian economy.

"I don't know how the Palestinian area even continues to survive. They're treated as second-class citizens," said Miller.

In response, Powell said "everybody is a second-class citizen when you can't even go out for an evening's walk without worrying about a bomb going off and killing you," in reference to the toll being taken on innocent civilians.

But Chairman Arafat needs to do more to stop the violence, said Powell. Even though he cannot move freely from his home in Ramallah, "he has the ability to call people, to talk to people and give instructions."

"Since [Arafat] claims this leadership mantle, it seems to me he has the responsibility to bring under control those organizations in the Palestinian movement that are conducting these acts of violence," said Powell.

Powell said he was encouraged by the peace initiative put forward by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, and mentioned Egyptian President Mubarak's proposal for a summit that would bring together Prime Minster Sharon and Chairman Arafat.

However, despite all of the ideas put forward, including the U.S.-proposed Tenet work plan and Mitchell process, no initiative or confidence-building measure could be implemented due to the level of violence. "To get started, the violence has to go down," said Powell.

"We've had a lot of initiatives, a lot of ideas. They have all not worked so far, because the violence continues. And you can come up with all the ideas in the world, but until the violence ends, you're not going to move forward. And the violence has to end, and it has to end as soon as possible," said Powell.