Powell offers American observers to monitor truce

CAIRO, Egypt -- Secretary of State Colin Powell called Tuesday for accelerated negotiations to establish a Palestinian state, even as he pressed for a cease-fire to Middle East violence between Israel and the Palestinians in the meantime.

Setting no deadline to complete his peace mission, Powell said he would meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as well as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon later this week in an effort to broker a truce.

"We are going to have to act more quickly," he said, though adding, "I am prepared to stay for some while."

Powell said the United States was prepared to contribute a small detachment of State Department or other civilian government employees to monitor any cease-fire agreement.

For the Bush administration, Powell's emphasis on Palestinian statehood marks a shift in tactics.

For more than a year, the administration has focused on establishing a cease-fire as a condition for deeper peacemaking.

But Powell said all the Arab leaders with whom he has met have underscored the urgency of getting started on an Israel-Palestine peace accord. And he said he would deal with Arafat as the representative of the Palestinian people.