Speed is of the Essence for Road Map, Says Powell

The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, yesterday warned the Israelis and Palestinians to "move with great speed" to build confidence in the American-led road map to peace or risk Hamas wrecking the process.

Mr Powell focused his ire on Hamas by describing it as "an enemy of peace" and "a problem we have to deal with in its entirety" during a flying visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank to bolster the peace plan after Israeli missile attacks and Palestinian suicide bombings threatened to derail it.

But Mr Powell also emphasised that the road map had to start delivering results for ordinary Palestinians.

The Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, has spent weeks trying to encourage Hamas to sign up to a ceasefire in its war on Israel. But Mr Powell took a more forthright approach.

He said: "President Bush is committed that we must ... keep moving forward and push through, blast through those who would try to stop us, who keep us from our goal of peace through acts of violence and terror."

The violence continued as an American-born Jewish settler was shot dead while driving on the West Bank, and three members of his family were injured. On Wednesday, a young Israeli girl was killed when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on her mother's car.

Mr Powell said it was important for ordinary Palestinians to see their lives improved in order to build confidence in the road map, and the first step should be a swift agreement on terms for a withdrawal of Israeli forces from most of Gaza.

"That would be a very powerful and important first step ... It would give them confidence that Hamas and other terrorist organisations perhaps do not have the right answer," he said.

Palestinians and Israelis have been wrangling over terms for a pullout from Gaza. Mr Abbas has been keen to win a ceasefire from Hamas first which is contingent on Israel ending its assassinations of militants in helicopter missile strikes on Gaza that frequently claim civilian lives.

Mr Powell said the pullout from Gaza should not be held hostage to negotiations to win a Hamas commitment to a ceasefire. But he also told Mr Sharon that the assassination of Palestinian militants had to stop, except where it would deter an imminent attack by a "ticking bomb", because it is a threat to the road map.

"We can understand the need to intercept a terrorist and deal with that individual and make sure that innocent lives are not lost," he said. "When one goes beyond that and expands those kinds of activities [assassinations] to individuals or situations where it might not be a ticking bomb, then ... the consequences of such actions and how they play into our broader efforts for peace must be taken into consideration."

Mr Sharon described the violence since the Middle East summit with President George Bush in Aqaba to launch the road map as "birth pangs", and said he was committed to making the necessary concessions for peace.

"These aren't easy, in fact they are very difficult after three years of unrelenting terror against us. But these are commitments that we have assumed upon ourselves in order to try to achieve something very dear to our heart," he said.

But the Israeli prime minister once again emphasised that there can be no progress "as long as terror is rampant".

After talks with Mr Sharon in Jerusalem, Mr Powell drove to the West Bank city of Jericho for a meeting with Mr Abbas.

The two men disagreed on how to handle Hamas. Mr Abbas emphasised that he is keen to draw the organisation into the political process. Mr Powell said he saw no distinction between Hamas's political and military wings, and that it must be stripped of its "armed components".