Bush held out the Northern Ireland peace process,
spearheaded by British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), as a possible
model, saying he was "willing to spend the same amount of
energy in the Middle East."
"The end of Saddam's regime will ... remove a source of
violence and instability in the Middle East," Bush said after
his third face-to-face meeting in less than a month with Blair,
his main ally in invading Iraq (news - web sites).
At Blair's urging, Bush has promised to publish a so-called
"road map" peace plan, which envisions creation of a
Palestinian state by 2005, as soon as Palestinian lawmakers
confirm a new cabinet under prime minister-designate Mahmoud
Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen.
Saying he was "pleased" with the selection, Bush told
reporters after a two-day summit meeting: "I look forward to
him (Abbas) finally putting his cabinet in place so we can
release the road map."
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday that Arafat
was undermining Abbas's bid to establish a government committed
to reform and the premier-designate was considering pulling out
rather than presenting his cabinet on Thursday as expected.
A senior Palestinian minister close to Arafat denied the
report. "There are no pressures being exerted on Abu Mazen. Any
talk about this is completely unfounded," Saeb Erekat said.
"Abu Mazen is still conducting consultations with
Palestinian factions for the cabinet. He will present the
cabinet to the Legislative Council (parliament) within the
timeline granted to him by the Basic Law."
"VISION OF BROADER PEACE"
Europeans have welcomed U.S. professions of commitment to
the road map, regarding it as a means to count anger in the
Arab world over the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq.
But some analysts and diplomats have said they are
skeptical of Bush's commitment to mediating between the
Israelis and the Palestinians. They say Bush promised to
release the road map as a favor to Blair, who faced stern
opposition at home for backing Bush in Iraq.
Emboldened by progress in the war, Bush said both he and
Blair were "determined to move toward our vision of broader
peace in that region."
"We're committed to implementing the road map toward peace,
to bring closer to the day when two states -- Israel and
Palestine -- (live) in peace and stability," Bush said.
"Peace in the Middle East will require overcoming deep
divisions of history and religion. Yet we know this is
possible; it is happening in Northern Ireland," Bush added,
citing Blair's efforts to breathe new life into the
British-ruled province's flagging peace process.
"To those who can sometimes say that the process in the
Middle East is hopeless, I say we can look at Northern Ireland
and take some hope from that," Blair told reporters.
ISRAEL WANTS CHANGES
But Israel's new rightist coalition government, which has
insisted that diplomacy cannot move forward until Palestinian
attacks end, has already signaled its desire for modifications
to the road map.
The Palestinians are expected to have fewer reservations
about the peace plan than Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s
government, some of whose members favor continued Jewish
settlement in the West Bank.
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) has said Washington intends
to promote the peace plan "as it is" without amendments by
either side, but insisted it could not be forced on the
parties.
Powell's comments appeared aimed at allaying European
worries that Washington would give in to Israeli pressure for
extensive changes, a process that could take months and
probably anger an Arab world already incensed over the war on
Iraq.
The road map calls for a series of reciprocal measures,
including a halt to Palestinian violence and an end to Jewish
settlement activity, to pave the way for a Palestinian state.
It was been in the works for almost a year but has been
repeatedly delayed.
