U.S. to call for Israeli withdrawal, sources say

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration is expected to call for a major Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories next week when Secretary of State Colin Powell delivers a speech on U.S. Mideast policy, senior administration sources and diplomats familiar with the speech's contents have told CNN.

The call for a withdrawal would come as part of a broader framework of exchanges between Israel and the Palestinians. Powell plans to deliver the speech Monday at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He was supposed to make an address there in September but postponed it after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Wednesday played down expectations about the speech, saying only that it will be a "serious foreign policy address" that may or may not focus solely on U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Administration and diplomatic sources said that after Powell's speech the administration is expected to send William Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, and his deputy, David Sotterfield, to the region.

Retired Gen. Anthony Zinni, former U.S. central commander who is a State Department special envoy, also is expected to travel to the region to work with the parties, the sources said.

Diplomatic sources said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will travel to Washington on December 3 for talks with President Bush.

In Monday's speech, Powell will lay out the administration's vision for the creation of a Palestinian state, senior officials and diplomats told CNN. But as a condition for moving forward, Powell will call for the Israelis and Palestinians to implement the cease-fire that CIA Director George Tenet brokered in June and the confidence-building measures recommended in the Mitchell report.

The report, the findings of a commission led by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, recommend a total freeze on Jewish settlement construction, which Powell will call for in the speech, sources said.

In addition, Powell will call for a third Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza, to be followed by peace negotiations on final status issues such as borders, refugees and the fate of Jerusalem, sources said.

These sources said that Israeli security also will feature prominently in the speech. Powell will reiterate the U.S. demand that resumption of political negotiations are conditional upon Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority denouncing terrorism and seeking an end to violent incidents, including the firing on Israeli soldiers and civilians from Palestinian-controlled areas.

The speech is expected to be a consolidation of statements espoused by the administration recently about the Middle East conflict. Recent comments by Bush and Powell, which said the administration envisioned a Palestinian state, were the first such statements made by a Republican administration.

In his speech Saturday to the U.N. General Assembly, Bush said that his administration is "working for the day when two states, Israel and Palestine, live peacefully together within secure and recognized borders. ...

"We will do all in our power to bring both parties back into negotiations."

The use of the word Palestine was a significant gesture that administration and diplomatic sources said was a deliberate U.S. policy decision signaling the United States is ready to get more involved in mediating the Middle East peace process.

The administration's renewed involvement in the conflict comes amid increasing pressure from Arab allies for the United States to engage more directly and fully as a mediator between the Israelis and Palestinians. Arab leaders have told Bush and Powell their support for the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism could falter if the United States does not get more involved.

Powell met Sunday with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Arafat as well as with various Arab leaders. Arafat had hoped for a meeting with Bush, who refused even to shake the hand of the Palestinian leader.