Israel not safe for Americans

WASHINGTON -- The State Department, citing a "deteriorating security situation," urged Americans who live in Jerusalem to leave the city Tuesday and encouraged dependents of American diplomats to return to the United States. \nIn a new and more pointed travel warning, the department again told Americans to defer travel to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, This time, it also said U.S. citizens residing in Jerusalem as well as the territories should consider moving to safer locations. \nThose who live in the city, the target of an escalating string of Palestinian bombings, were told to be particularly careful and to avoid crowds and demonstrations. \n"The potential for further terrorist acts remains high," the department statement said. "The situation in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza remains extremely volatile with continuing terrorist attacks, confrontations and clashes." \nWarnings to Americans to stay away from Israel were issued in December and January. The statement Tuesday was coupled with an announcement that dependents of U.S. diplomats and other American workers at the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem were authorized to go home at government expense. \nThe departure of dependents, which is not mandatory, was based on the general situation and not on any specific threats against Americans, said a U.S. official. \nIsrael's economy already is reeling under the destruction caused by terror attacks, the expense of a military buildup and a sharp decline in tourists. The new U.S. warning is bound to add to Americans' anxieties about visiting Israel. \nThe United States, declining to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv. The authorized departure of dependents, as it is called, does not apply to the embassy. \nPartly for religious reasons, Jerusalem has attracted Jews from around the world for centuries. Many are attached to its Biblical sites, and it was not clear how effective the State Department suggestion to U.S. citizens to consider relocating would be. \nTel Aviv also has suffered bloody attacks, but with less frequency. \nDepartment officials said that for security reasons they could not provide an estimate how many dependents were eligible go home. \nAlso Tuesday, the University of California said it was arranging travel back to the United States for 27 students enrolled in programs in Israel and putting its fall 2002 academic program in Israel on hold "in view of the dramatically escalating violence in the Middle East." \nThe school said it was joining the universities of Colorado and Washington in recalling students from Israel. The university noted that 28 of its students in Israel had previously abandoned their studies there. \nMeanwhile, Secretary of State Colin Powell made another call to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, his third since Saturday, and talked also to Prime Minister Ali Abul-Ragheb of Jordan. \nJafar Hassan, who heads the Jordanian Embassy in Washington, said Israel's actions on the West Bank were having "an extremely negative impact" on relations between Israel and Jordan.