US President George W. Bush on Tuesday confirmed media reports that creating a Palestinian state had always been part of his country's vision for peace in the Middle East.
However, Bush tied his vision firmly to Israel's right to exist.
"The idea of a Palestinian state has always been part of a vision, so long as the right of Israel to exist is respected," he was quoted as saying by AFP.
"I fully understand that progress is made in centimeters in the Middle East. And we believe we're making some progress," the president added.
Many Palestinians hailed Bush's long-awaited endorsement of the state they have been longing for.
"The statement of President Bush will encourage and...help fulfill an atmosphere of security and safety in the region," Nabil Abu Rudeina, top aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, told AFP.
"Establishing a Palestinian state with a capital in holy Jerusalem is the way to bring security, peace and stability to the region."
Abu Rudeina added that an end to Israel's closure of the Occupied Territories, implementation of the Mitchell plan and starting final-status negotiations would "help promote stability in the entire world."
Contrary to feelings of relief among the Palestinians, Israel warned that Bush’s remarks could backfire.
Zalman Shoval, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said that since Bush's Middle East peace initiative was partly prompted by his desire to enlist Muslim and Arab states against Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, Palestinians could wind up thanking the wanted Saudi dissident.
"It could possibly be counter-productive in the long run, as the Palestinians could thank bin Laden for it," he told AFP.
He said it was "probably not wrong" to regard Bush's remarks in Washington earlier Tuesday as part of the US effort to set up a global anti-terrorist coalition and bring moderate Arab and Muslim states on board.
"Quite logically, the Palestinians could say 'Thank you bin Laden,'" for prompting Bush's backing of an independent state," the Israeli premier said.
Meanwhile, a Pentagon official announced that US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was headed for the Middle East on Tuesday for meetings on the US campaign against terrorism.
But Shoval said Bush struck the right note in insisting that the first step in the peace process was a total halt to all "violence," before moving on the internationally-backed Mitchell plan to find a way back to political negotiations.
"While the whole free world is fighting terrorism, the Palestinian leadership and especially Yasser Arafat must stop using violence and terrorism," Shoval said.
He said the Israeli cabinet could meet Wednesday to assess the situation since the truce signed last week, which was severely undermined over the weekend by violence marking the first anniversary of the Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation.
Bush's statements signaled a dramatic shift in his administration's policies towards the Middle East, as he implied that he would take a more hands-on approach to dealing with the Middle East crisis.
"We are working diligently with both sides to encourage a reduction of violence so that meaningful discussions can take place," Bush was quoted by the Washington Post as saying.
The paper further quoted him as saying that the US still backed a proposal drafted by former US senator George Mitchell on paving the way for a return to peace negotiations.
He also stood by Mitchell's recommendations for reviving the stumbling peace process in the region, calling those recommendations "a viable blueprint that most of the world agrees with is a necessary path to ultimately solving the problems of the Middle East."
TERRORIST ATTACKS TRIPPED UP US POLICY SHIFT
Senior US officials said earlier on Tuesday that Washington's plans to unveil a major Middle East peace initiative, including possible support for a Palestinian state, were stalled by the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
"We had started, in fact, to make more strenuous efforts in the Middle East," an unnamed US State Department official was quoted as saying by AFP.
According to various officials, the potential plan centered around paving the way to a key meeting between President Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
"In the run up to the UN, the main thrust of the plan was to revolve around the meetings with Peres and Arafat," another official told AFP.
The meeting did take place under US pressure, but a truce that the meeting brought is growing shakier, especially in light of the postponement of any UN backing.
"We had been looking at the UN session not as time to unveil a plan but to get some momentum," the official said. "We haven't proceeded exactly as we might have after the attacks but the basic outline is still in play."
However, there were contradictory reports by the New York Times and the Washington post that Secretary of State Colin Powell was to announce the fresh US peace plan in a speech to the UN General Assembly.
One official denied that Powell was to voice such support to a Palestinian state, according to AFP.
That official, described as close to Powell, said the secretary had not planned to make such a speech and that Bush's address to the world body was not intended to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The secretary doesn't make a UN speech and the president's speech wasn't going to be a Middle East speech," the official said.
According to the Post, Powell would have laid out general principles for the settlement of the most difficult issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including determining final borders and the return and status of Palestinian refugees – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
