WASHINGTON,
May 20 (Islamonline.net & News Agencies) - U.S. President George
W. Bush spoke Tuesday, May 20, for the first time with Palestinian
Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas and stressed the "absolute need"
to fight what he called terrorism in the Middle East.
Bush
made a direct appeal to Abbas, who is expected to be invited to the
White House, to clamp down on anti-Israel attacks while assuring him
that Washington remains committed to establishing a Palestinian state
by 2005, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
15-minute telephone conversation with Abbas was "friendly and
hopeful," Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters.
"President
Bush's judgment is that Abu Mazen understands that the future success,
health and welfare of the Palestinian people begins with attacking
those who are violent and seek to derail the peace," he added.
The
conversation came as Israel was on high alert after five Palestinian
attacks in 48 hours, which killed 12 people, not including the
bombers, and injured hundreds, AFP said.
Bush
renewed his commitment to the roadmap as the only way to achieve
peace, and to create the Palestinian state living in peace with Israel
by 2005.
He
"reiterated the absolute need for all parties to fight
terror" said Fleischer.
"The
U.S. president stressed the need for all parties to take concrete
steps, called for cooperative efforts between all Arab parties and
Israel to create the conditions for peace and security in the Middle
East."
"Abu
Mazen told the president he was committed to reform, to peace and to
ending all acts of terror," said the American spokesman.
"The
president was pleased with the conversation."
Bush
"believes that Abu Mazen is a reformer, that Abu Mazen is
dedicated to peace and that Abu Mazen wants to do everything in his
power to fight terrorism, to crack down on those who would interfere
with the peace," said Fleischer.
The
two leaders did not discuss specific steps to crack down on violence,
nor did they address Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's
role in the peace process, he dded.
But
Bush did say he looked forward to future conversations with Abbas and
to hosting him at the White House, where he aims to welcome Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon soon for his eighth visit, said Fleischer.
"The
president will say to all parties, including Israel, that they have
responsibilities that they, too, need to take to help achieve
peace."
Sharon
postponed his trip for Washington -- including a scheduled Tuesday
meeting with Bush -- due to the recent operations against the Jewish
state.
No
More "Abu Mazen"
Although
Fleischer referred to the Palestinian prime minister by his nom de
guerre "Abu Mazen," the State Department confirmed Tuesday
that it had consciously decided to stop using his nickname.
Officials
said that the decision to stop calling Abbas "Abu Mazen" had
come in response to requests from the Palestinian prime minister and
others.
"We
have made a conscious decision to refer to him as Prime Minister
Abbas" Boucher said.
A
senior department official said Abbas and others had suggested that as
premier he should not be called by the guerrilla or revolutionary name
that he adopted in the early days of the Palestine Liberation
Organization.
From
the time Abbas was nominated to the new post until Secretary of State
Colin Powell met with him earlier this month, U.S. officials had
referred to him as
New
American Lexicon
 |
|
Boucher played down
use of "homicidal bombing" instead of "suicide
bombing"
|
In
a related development, the State Department on Monday, May 19, used,
for the first time, a variation of the Israeli-preferred term
"homicide bombing" to describe the weekend attack by a
Palestinian in occupied Jerusalem -- a slight but perceptible change
to the standard diplomatic lexicon.
The
White House began using the term after a concerted Israeli campaign to
focus American public attention on the victims of such attacks by
employing the word "homicide" instead of
"suicide," which refers back to the perpetrator.
Boucher
played down any significance to the use of the term, and said he
thought he had used it before.
"I
think I've done that before" he said. "I said 'homicidal'.
It killed people, that's the point."
But
other officials said they could not recall the phrase being used
before, and a search of the State Department's online database as well
as commercial transcription agencies found no variation of the term
being used by a department spokesman prior to Monday.
One
official said the term had been written into the State Department's
guidance -- language prepared to answer reporters' questions -- on
Monday in part because the White House had been using it.
In
the world of diplomacy, nuance is perhaps dissected and analyzed more
in the volatile Middle East than anywhere else -- and the change in
language may be a harbinger of a new harder State Department position
on the Palestinians.
