Following the recent visit by director of American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), George Tenet, to the Middle East region, the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is also expected to pay a visit to the region in order to follow up on Tenet's plan for a cease-fire between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Zionist regime and make fresh efforts to derail the Intifada, or general uprising, of Palestinians against the occupiers of their homeland.

Powell's imminent visit to the occupied Palestine should be seen in the light of the fact that the prime minister of the Zionist regime, Ariel Sharon, has done everything he could to suppress the uprising of the oppressed Palestinians, but failed to derail the Intifada. That is why the Zionists and their supporters have now come to the conclusion that putting an end to the Intifada through the current means is impossible and fresh avenues should be explored to achieve this objective.

However, when the new U.S. administration took office, the White House officials said that they would not interfere in the Middle East conflict. Therefore, the question is, what has now prompted Colin powell, the second highest-ranking official in the U.S. administration, to visit the occupied Palestine so hurriedly?

Analysts believe that Powell's visit, which is seemingly aimed at influencing the public opinion and seeking an end to the Intifada, has been prompted by the strong Zionist lobby in the United States. But other aspects of this visit are also worth considering.

First of all, the U.S. initiative could have been inspired by the failure of the Zionist regime to suppress the uprising of Palestinians. In other words, the White House has realized that the continuation of the Intifada at its current pace and massacre of the innocent Palestinians at the hands of Zionist forces could also tarnish the image of the United States as the main patron of the Zionist entity in the eyes of the world public.

What is equally embarrassing for the White House officials is the U.S. double-standard policy toward different world developments. In other words, although the U.S. poses as the main advocate of human rights in the world and is still punishing Iraq for its 1991 invasion of Kuwait through sanctions, it has been turning a blind eye to the Zionist atrocities against innocent Palestinian men, women and children in the past half a century.

The visit could have also been planned in response to the reaction of regional countries to the Zionist crimes against the Palestinians. At a recent Arab League summit, some Arab countries condemned the atrocities of Zionist forces and threatened to reconsider their relations with the supporters of the Zionist entity.

In 1973, these Arab countries imposed an oil embargo on the Zionist regime and countries supporting it in response to the Zionist crimes. Therefore, the repetition of this embargo under present circumstances could deal a heavy blow to the economy of Western countries, especially the United States.

Thus, despite its previous stance, Washington now seems to be forced to interfere in the Middle East conflict and try to revive the so-called peace process. But the oppressed Palestinians, who have witnessed the futility of such negotiations due to the intransigence of the Zionist entity and its noncompliance with its agreements ever since the Oslo accords were signed between the PA and the Zionist regime in 1993, are now determined to restore their violated rights through their uprising against occupiers of their homeland.