Palestinian state a goal of peace talks, Bush says

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration made clear Tuesday that it foresees the creation of a Palestinian nation as the outcome of any successful Mideast agreement.

"The idea of a Palestinian state has always been a part of a vision, so long as the right to an Israeli state is respected," President Bush said.

But the first goal, Bush said, is reducing the level of violence that has hit the region this year. "I fully understand that progress is made in centimeters in the Middle East," Bush said. "And we believe we’re making some progress."

Peacemaking efforts have new urgency after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. An end to Israeli-Arab violence is a priority for the Arab states that Bush has asked to help in the U.S. fight against terrorism, especially Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, speaking in his country after meeting with Bush in Washington, D.C., last week, said he told Bush that a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — under U.S. sponsorship — could lessen terrorism worldwide, removing a key cause taken up by extremists.

"I told him that we need a speedy resolution to the Palestinian issue and a quick one, too, for the issue of Jerusalem," Abdullah said in remarks carried by the official Petra news agency.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer denied the president’s position was anything new. U.S. officials have always envisioned a Palestinian state and have been encouraging both sides to end violence, they said.

"We were hard at work before the 11th of September on trying to help in the region, and we are hard at work after the 11th of September," Powell said.

The resumption of high-level talks last week between Israel and the Palestinians, arranged through persistent telephone urging by Powell, has revived the momentum of the U.S. drive, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher denied a connection between peace efforts and efforts to stitch together an anti-terror coalition. But he added: "We know that people in the region who are working with us … we know that they also care about the status of efforts in the Middle East. They welcome the steps that we’ve tried to take."

U.S. officials had viewed the scheduled U.N. meeting as a key moment in peace efforts, Boucher said. "And we wanted to make sure it was a moment when there was something positive going on," he said. Boucher denied, though, that a speech outlining a major new peace initiative had been scheduled.

In the weeks leading up to that meeting, Powell had begun quietly pressing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to reopen the peace talks that broke down at the end of the Clinton administration.