His master's voice

摘要

Colin powell saw himself out after each of his two meetings with Yasser Arafat in Ramallah this week. His host could not accompany him to his car. "Is it acceptable", Mr Arafat demanded of reporters crowding into his battered, beleaguered offices after his second meeting with America's secretary of state on April 17th, "that I cannot go outside this door? I ask the whole world." His confinement did, however, seem acceptable to Mr Powell when he held his own press conference later that day. It also did not seem unacceptable to the secretary of state that, despite repeated urging from George Bush to Ariel Sharon that he end Israel's massive invasion of the Palestinian areas forthwith, the tanks and troops should still be there as Mr Powell ended his ten-day trip to the region.