JERUSALEM: Secretary of State Colin L. Powell kicked-off his critical phase of long-shot Middle East peace mission to test a new strategy to try to overcome the dangerous hostilities and deep rage between Israelis and Palestinians.

Powell, past master of military strategy and current maestro of US foreign policy, will need to tap both skills to pull off anything that leads to either a lasting ceasefire or an agreement from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to face each other across a peace table.

Even US officials acknowledge that the deck is stacked against Powell. “Getting those two back into a real peace process makes getting Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait look comparatively straightforward,” said an administration official, referring to the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Powell’s new strategy calls for a new timetable that eliminates what is known as sequence — a ceasefire followed by political talks — thus addressing the demands of all parties to the conflict at the same time.

The most important shift in US tactics over the past week, Arab leaders say, is Washington’s recognition that it must accelerate the political process and not leave it until the end, as Israel has stipulated.

The new US approach to the Mideast crisis includes a tough-love stance with Israel, its closest ally in the volatile region, that involves both carrots and sticks. Days after President Bush demanded that Israel withdraw “without delay,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Thursday that Bush considers Sharon “a man of peace.”

Powell also issued a blunt warning about the dangers of Israeli intransigence. “However effective Israeli defence forces will be right now in routing out terrorism ... there may still be people who are willing to resort to violence and terror, people who are willing to use suicide bombs and other kinds of bombs,” Powell said at a news conference in Madrid, where he met with Russian officials on Thursday.

Powell also intends to play tough with Arafat when they meet on Saturday (today) at his besieged headquarters in Ramallah, US officials said.

Powell plans to make clear that the United States will do nothing to accelerate the establishment of a Palestinian state or support the reconstruction of heavily damaged Palestinian areas and institutions unless Arafat moves — decisively and quickly — to do all he can to end the wave of suicide bombings.

Despite the former general’s charisma, global stature and clout as the world’s most powerful diplomat, a State Department official said: “Even Mother Teresa would have a problem dealing with these guys.”

But Powell tries to be upbeat about the challenge. “I don’t like wallowing with pessimists,” he said when asked if he was taking on “mission impossible” in trying to defuse the Mideast crisis. “I am proud to be going. ... My mission is still on.”—Dawn/The Los Angeles Times News Service.