Powell pledges to promote democracy in Middle East

The United States yesterday launched a $29 million a year program to promote democracy and open markets in the Middle East while Arabs said they would prefer U.S. efforts to end Israeli occupation and avoid what they fear would be a devastating war with Iraq.

The United States, unpopular in the Middle East for its support of Israel and authoritarian Arab governments, will spend the money -- less than 10 cents per person -- to encourage economic reform, liberal education, political participation and civil society groups.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell launched the program, the Middle East Partnership Initiative, in a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington.

"Our partnership initiative is a continuation and a deepening of our long-standing commitment to working with all the peoples of the Middle East to improve their daily lives and to help them face the future with hope," he said.

U.S. officials said the idea had been in the works for years and Powell denied it had anything to do with the hostility to U.S. policy which came to light in the United States after Arab hijackers attacked in September 2001.

But the timing puzzled Arab diplomats because it coincided with U.S. preparations for a possible attack on Iraq and a meeting of Middle East mediators in Washington next week. The relatively small amount of money also aroused some criticism. A war on Iraq is expected to cost at least $100 billion, more than 300 times as much as the democracy initiative.

Powell broke no new ground on U.S. mediation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, blaming the stalemate on acts of violence by Palestinian militants.

"We would do anything to ... end the terror and the violence that comes from the Palestinian community -- some parts of the Palestinian community," he said. "Get the terror and the violence down, then we're in a position to get movement from the Israeli side."

Another condition for progress was that the Palestinians choose new leaders and change their institutions, he said, repeating a theme adopted by President George W. Bush in June.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat took office through elections deemed to reflect Palestinian public opinion.

"As the Palestinians make progress in this direction, Israel will also be required to make hard choices, including an end to all settlement construction activity," Powell added.

U.S. officials had announced the Middle East Partnership Initiative months ago, with a price tag of $20 million. U.S. officials said at the time that Powell had called off the speech because the time had passed. But on Tuesday, a senior State Department official said the time had now come.

Jordanian ambassador Karim Kawar told Reuters the democracy program needed more funds and should be coupled with more effort to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"The peace process is for us at the heart of the Middle East problem. It's difficult to maintain hope when we have no solution. We would like to see more effort exerted," he said.

Another Arab diplomat, who asked not to be named, said the Arab world was more worried about the danger of a U.S. attack on Iraq. "If that happens, the economic development of the region would be set back for years to come," he said.

"Powell is repeating the same old cliches. What we need is a commitment to end the Israeli occupation and that is not what we heard."

Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights in 1967. It has withdrawn from parts of the West Bank and Gaza but its troops regularly go back to arrest or kill Palestinian militants held responsible for attacks on Israelis.

Shibley Telhami, a Middle East specialist at the University of Maryland, said the latest initiative was full of good ideas but may not win Washington much credit in the Middle East.

"I have no doubt that most people want to see more freedom and more economic opportunity. But most people in the region do not trust U.S. intentions. They will see this as a means to implement U.S. policy on Israel and Iraq," he told Reuters.

"There is also the issue of priorities. Does $29 million signal that this is a U.S. priority?"