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Bush: New Leadership Necessary for U.S. to Recognize Palestinian State
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| Bush
delivers the long-awaited new U.S. strategy for Middle East
peace
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WASHINGTON,
June 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. President George W.
Bush said Monday, June 24, that the United States would not support
the creation of a Palestinian state until a new leadership "not
compromised by terror" is elected, implicitly demanding Yasser
Arafat's ouster.
Bush,
flanked by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, Secretary of Defense
Donald H. Rumsfeld and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in
the Rose Garden, delivered the long-awaited new U.S. strategy for
Middle East peace. He did not specifically mention Arafat by name in
his comments, but made clear that offers of massive aid and support in
the Palestinians' quest for a sovereign state would depend on major
reform, including changes in leadership.
"Peace
requires a new and different Palestinian leadership, so that a
Palestinian state can be born," the president said. "I call
on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not
compromised by terror.
"The
United States will not support the establishment of a Palestinian
state until its leaders engage in a sustained fight against the
terrorists and dismantle their infrastructure," Bush said.
"I
call upon them to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and
liberty. If the Palestinian people actively pursue these goals,
America and the world will actively support their efforts.
"If
the Palestinian people meet these goals, they will be able to reach
agreement with Israel and Egypt and Jordan on security and other
arrangements for independence," Bush said.
Elections
should be held by the end of the year for a legislature with normal
authority and there also must be a constitution, Bush said.
Once
that happens, the president said Washington would work with the
Palestinians to create a "provisional" state, pending the
conclusion of negotiations on the most sensitive issues in the
conflict: borders, refugees and the status of Jerusalem.
But
"reform must be more than cosmetic changes or a veiled attempt to
preserve the status quo" if the Palestinians are to fulfill their
aspirations for a state alongside Israel, reports news agencies.
"And
when the Palestinian people have new leaders, new institutions and new
security arrangements with their neighbors, the United States of
America will support the creation of a Palestinian state, whose
borders and certain aspects of its sovereignty will be provisional
until resolved as part of a final settlement in the Middle East,"
Bush said.
He
pledged that the United States and the international community would
assist the Palestinians in their reform efforts, with aid for
democratic elections and economic and development support: "And
the United States, along with our partners in the developed world,
will increase our humanitarian assistance to relieve Palestinian
suffering," Bush pledged.
As
the Palestinians move toward those objectives, Bush said Israel should
move to reciprocate, withdrawing troops to positions they held prior
to the start of the current intifada, or uprising, that began in
September 2000, and ending settlements in the occupied territories.
Ultimately, Israel should agree to pull back to lines it held before
the 1967 Mideast war.
"As
we make progress toward security, Israeli forces need to withdraw
fully to positions they held prior to September 28, 2000," he
said.
"And
consistent with the recommendations of the Mitchell committee, Israeli
settlement activity in the occupied territories must stop," Bush
said.
He
referred to the international panel led by former U.S. senator George
Mitchell, which called for "confidence-building" measures,
including a halt to settlements, in a report released last May.
Senior
administration officials said they envision the Palestinians being
able to reach provisional statehood within 18 months and full
permanent statehood in as soon as three years, reported news agencies.
Bush
became the first president to endorse Palestinian statehood, yet has
shunned Arafat and has questioned his leadership and his motives
repeatedly.
The
limited statehood possibility, however, has irked some Palestinians
and other Arabs.
"A
state is a state, and you cannot be provisionally pregnant, and you
cannot have a provisional state," Nabil Shaath, a senior member
of Arafat's Cabinet, said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition."
Click
here to read the full text of Bush’s speech
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