Signs of change emerge in US foreign policy
The Bush administration has flashed signals of change in US foreign policy - principally in its involvement in Arab-Israeli peacemaking.
Colin Powell, the new secretary of state, said a change was to be expected after an election while State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the Bush administration was not directly involved in current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Entering the State Department for his first day on the job, Powell told a gathering of hundreds of enthusiastic employees that there will be consistency and some coherence in US foreign policy.
"But," he said, "also let you know that there will be changes coming; that is what elections are all about."
Mr Boucher said: "We maintain our strong interest in the Middle East peace process, and the secretary has asked his ambassadors in the region to follow the situation closely. But we're not participants in these particular talks."
Israel and the Palestinians have been unable to negotiate a peace accord despite intensive efforts by the Clinton administration in its waning months.
President Clinton said in the days before his tenure ended on Saturday that his proposed settlement formula ended with his departure.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that President Bush would start looking at the process of moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
On Iraq, White House and State Department officials gave no indication that US policy would be changed.
Mr Boucher acknowledged, however, that "a new administration will look at the situation and will determine how best to proceed" on sanctions designed to force President Saddam Hussein to get rid of weapons of mass destruction.
