WASHINGTON, Nov 19: While reiterating US commitment to Israel, Secretary of State Colin Powell told it in the clearest possible terms on Monday that it must end its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and be willing to accept a viable Palestinian state.

The secretary, in a speech billed as outlining the Bush administration’s Middle East policy and also meant to shore up Muslim support for the US-led coalition against terrorism, referred to the land-for-peace formula enshrined both at Madrid and in United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 and underlined a two-state solution to the ME crisis.

He said Palestinians must end violence and recognize the right of Israel to secure borders, and urged both sides to resume negotiations. He said Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must make a “100 per cent effort” to bring unrest to a stop, saying whatever the causes, the intifada had become mired in violence.

To help prod and push Israelis and Palestinians to resume talks, Mr Powell said he was sending back Assistant Secretary for Near East William Burns to the region by the end of this week and had appointed retired US Central Command chief Anthony Zinni as a special adviser to assist in the establishment of a durable ceasefire. The effort would be to move towards implementation of the Mitchell commission recommendations.

The secretary, who was speaking at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, said Palestinians must live up to the promises they had made and must stop violence and do so now.

But he said Israeli occupation was a “defining reality” for Palestinians, and they had to live with forced closures, checkpoints and indignities. Israeli settlement activity had undermined peace moves and the US had long opposed it, Mr Powell pointed out.

He also referred to Al-Quds in the context of a final settlement in the Middle East, and stressed that an agreement on the holy city should be acceptable to Christians, Jews and Muslims.

Mr Powell’s speech came amidst intense lobbying by pro-Israel members of Congress and Jewish interest groups meant to pressure the administration against any change in America’s Middle East policy. Alarmed by the use of the word “Palestine” by President Bush last week and his earlier reference to a Palestine state, Jewish associations and legislators sympathetic to them have been warning against any concessions to Palestinian rights.

This contrasts with growing pressure on the administration from Arab and European countries which want the US to take a more active role in bringing peace to the Middle East. Washington is conscious of the fact that failure to get more closely involved with the Middle East may test Arab support for the current US-led campaign against terrorism. The US itself indicated after the Sept 11 attacks that an opportunity had occurred to tackle some of the root causes of Middle East tensions, but it never appeared to have fully made up its mind as to the extent it should get engaged with Palestine and Israel.

Secretary Powell’s announcement of renewed diplomacy in the region was seen as an indication that America has now agreed to pursue a pro-active strategy.

The Mitchell plan, drafted by former Democratic Senator George Mitchell, calls for a ceasefire, followed by a cooling off period, measures on both sides to rebuild confidence and a return to negotiations.

The confidence-building measures include a freeze on Jewish settlements — a proposal vociferously opposed by Israel and its friends here — increased freedom of movement for Palestinians, and greater efforts by Palestinian authorities to halt violence and arrest suspects alleged to have carried out bombings and shootings in Israel.

Israel has set its own preconditions to moving towards implementation of the Mitchell report. It insists on seven days of what it calls complete calm and then a six-week cooling off period before it will begin confidence-building measures. Palestinians have described this as an excuse meant to hamper efforts to resume peace talks, and the US appears to have acquiesced in the Israeli seven-day precondition. US efforts will now be concentrated on somehow getting a ceasefire in place so that negotiations can begin.

Mr Powell heavily criticized Palestinian violence and the “culture of hatred” that had bred this violence. However, his strong endorsement of an independent Palestine state living alongside Israel and his references to Israeli occupation and settlement activity are bound to be welcomed in the Arab world. Palestinians have always held that the fundamental problem in the Middle East is the continued Israeli occupation of Arab lands.

Secretary Powell also referred briefly in his speech to Afghanistan, saying the US was working with the United Nations to form a new government that would be representative of all groups and ethnic interests. He said the US would cooperate with the international community and Afghans in a drive to help rebuild Afghanistan.

Mr Powell said the US had made the Taliban pay for harbouring Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, and he pointed to the relief with which their loss of power in Kabul had been greeted by the people.