Powell holds talks amid escalating violence

JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders amid increased violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The violence escalated despite orders by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to suspend clashes during Powell's tour of the region.

Palestinians fired on Israeli targets both in the West Bank and Gaza Strip overnight Sunday.

Powell met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak for two hours and was briefed by Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz. Powell also met Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon and Arafat later in the day.

At least one Palestinian was killed and more than 50 were injured in clashes with Israeli troops in what Palestinian groups termed was a day of rage on Saturday. Again, the bloodiest clashes took place around the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

A leading aide of Arafat, PLO Executive Committee secretary Mahmoud Abbas, said shots were fired near his El Bireh office in what he described as an Israeli assassination attempt. Abbas has been criticized for his ties with Sharon.

For his part, Powell has been lobbying Arab states to support continued international sanctions on Iraq. Powell, who also met his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, discussed Iranian weapons programs and the Israeli-Palestinian mini-war.

In Amman, thousands of Jordanians staged an anti-U.S. march in protest of U.S. and British air strikes against Iraqi targets. Other protests took place in the West Bank.

Powell's visit came as the United States renewed a defense pact with Kuwait. The agreement was renewed for 10 years. Kuwaiti officials said army units were placed on the highest state of alert amid Iraqi threats against the sheikdom.

In Berlin, the Die Welt daily quoted German intelligence as saying that Iraq could complete a nuclear bomb within a three to six-year period. German intelligence has reportedly concluded that Baghdad has completed biological weapons as well and is developing a long-range missile with a range of 3,000 kilometers.

In London, the Sunday Times reported that Iraq successfully tested a nuclear bomb in 1989. The newspaper quoted a former member on the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commssion who is now in hiding in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.