During the committee meeting March 7 at which Powell spoke, Cantor said: "Israel is the only country where we have an embassy that is not located in a nation's capital, and moving the embassy would be the first in the United States recognition of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel."

The freshman congressman, who is quickly becoming the Republican party's most vocal activist on matters affecting Israel, also made a veiled criticism of Powell's recent trip to the Middle East, during which Powell called on Israel to lift its economic "siege" on the Palestinians.

"I applaud the Administration's notion of peace with security, and for not adopting the previous Administration's position of peace at any cost," he said.. "I have been disappointed to read statements in the press, equating Israeli self defense measures with Palestinian terrorism. Before any peace deal is discussed, the violence perpetrated by Yasser Arafat and his people must come to an end." --Donald H. Harrison