Bush Suggested Pressing Israel on Withdrawal: Saudi FM

WASHINGTON, July 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. President George W. Bush - meeting with Arab foreign ministers - suggested Thursday, July 18, to influence Israel to pull its troops out of Palestinian territories once Palestinians agree to a ceasefire, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said.

"In all fairness to the president, we didn't ask him to use his influence with Israel. He volunteered to do that," Prince Saud said after meeting with Bush at the White House, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The Saudi foreign minister, along with his counterparts Marwan Moasher of Jordan and Ahmed Maher of Egypt, outlined the elements of a plan for a Palestinian state to Bush and to Secretary of State Colin Powell in an earlier meeting.

Prince Saud briefed the U.S. president on a plan in the works for statehood that prescribes a ceasefire followed by an Israeli pullout, which would allow for Palestinian elections and for a Palestinian state to be formed over the next three years.

"We talked more on these details with [Powell], but we mentioned the main elements to the president and he was very pleased with it," Saud said, adding that an oversight committee for the peace process was formed in talks Tuesday, July 16, with the "quartet" of officials from the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States.

Jordan and Egypt will be part of the oversight committee, but not Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud said.

The top-level meeting comes as Israel continued its crackdown on Palestinians, prompting human rights groups to accuse it of abusing human rights and breaking the Geneva Convention, especially following its indiscriminate policy of collective punishment aimed at the families of Palestinian resistance fighters who carried out operations in Israel.

Bush refused to let the increased violence shatter his vision for regional peace, said AFP.

"I think the enemies against peace try to derail peace and try to discourage us," Bush said immediately ahead of the meeting. "And one of the things I'm going to tell the leaders today is we refuse to be discouraged."

Bush, who has called for the removal of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, seemed to soften his rhetoric to the Arab leaders saying it was "an issue of democracy," according to Prince Saud.

The Egyptian foreign minister said that Arafat's future role was not a main topic of the Bush meeting. "We both believe in democracy and we both believe that it is up to the Palestinian people to choose and elect their leaders," Maher said.

The Jordanian foreign minister said he was satisfied by Thursday's discussions.

"I think the road map from now to the elections is very clear," said Moasher, appearing on PBS's "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."

"We were very encouraged by what the president said both privately and publicly about his vision of peace, which includes a Palestinian state in three years and security for all countries of the region and his commitment to work together with all of us on a road map that would take us to that endgame," he pointed out.

The United States would like to see elections in the Palestinian territories as early as 2003. While the Arab leaders agree to the schedule, Prince Saud said, they see an Israeli withdrawal as a prerequisite.

"The elections cannot happen before ... the Israelis withdraw to line of occupation before the 28th," said Prince Saud referring to the border lines between Israel and the Palestinian territories on September 28, 2000 when the uprising began.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, who attended the meeting with Bush, underlined that Palestinian groups were already in talks for a written cease-fire agreement.

"The Palestinians themselves are right now sitting and negotiating together and between them," Prince Bandar said.

The Arab diplomats ended the day with a sense that the peace process is moving forward, and that if a cease fire, withdrawal, and elections can happen there could be hope for peace.