Pledges might give Mideast peace a chance
US President George Bush tonight flew out of the cauldron of Mideast politics after extracting concessions from the Israeli and Palestinian leaders that might just give peace a chance.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged to dismantle illegal outposts in Palestinian areas, while Palestinian premier Mahmoud Abbas renounced terrorism against Israel.
Both steps were sought by Bush as he brought the two sides together in a dramatic bid to advance Mideast peace.
Abbas pleaded for “a clear improvement in the lives of Palestinians” that would allow them to live in dignity.
“It is time to bring all this suffering to an end,” Abbas said, and later added: “There will be no military solution to this conflict, so we repeat our renunciation and the renunciation of terrorism against the Israelis wherever they might be.”
To that, Sharon promised to “immediately begin to remove unauthorised outposts.”
Joining Abbas, Sharon, and the summit’s host, Jordan’s King Abdullah, at his palace on the shores of the Gulf of Aqaba, Bush praised the leaders’ commitments and concessions.
“Both leaders understand that a future of peace cannot be founded on hatred and falsehood and bitterness,” he said.
“The journey we’re taking is difficult, but there is no other choice,” Bush said.
Later, Bush expressed obvious satisfaction with the session, saying on board Air Force One as it flew to Qatar: “I’m the master of low expectations. We accomplished what I hoped we’d accomplish.”
“Some amazing things were said. The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority talked about the suffering of the Jewish people. The prime minister of Israel talked about a Palestinian state,” the president said.
Describing his role, he said, “I show up when they need me to call people to account, to praise or to say ‘wait a minute.’ ... It’s to keep the process moving. I used the expression ‘ride herd.”’
Israeli outposts and settlements in Palestinian areas is one of the most divisive issues of the long conflict.
Without their government’s approval, Israeli settlers have placed trailers or tents on hilltops, some next to existing settlements, in Palestinian areas. The unauthorised outposts intensified the Palestinians’ conflict with Israel during which more than 750 Israelis have died, including about 350 from suicide bombings.
During the same period, more than 2,350 Palestinians have been killed.
Hard-line Israelis say settlements and outposts reinforce their claim to Biblical lands but other Israelis say the illegal outposts get in the way of a deal that could unburden their country of the costly occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
For his part, Sharon said Israel’s security was his highest priority and that “there can be no peace” without Palestinians abandoning the incitement to terrorist acts. ”There can be no compromise with terror,” he said.
Calling violence inconsistent with Palestinians’ Islamic faith and the establishment of an independent state they have long sought, Abbas pledged to end “the militarization of the intefadeh.”
“Our national future is at stake and no one will be allowed to jeopardise it,” he said.
Bush promised training and support for a “new, restructured Palestinian security service,” and said he would place diplomat John Wolf at the head of a US mission on the ground to help the parties and monitor progress.
The four leaders approached the cameras across a bridge – walking toward Israel in a symbolic gesture arranged by the White House – specially built for the occasion.
King Abdullah called the three-way meeting a step toward fulfilling “a dream of peace, prosperity, coexistence and reconciliation” for the entire Middle East.
“Blowing up buses will not induce the Israelis to move forward and neither will the killing of Palestinians or the demolition of their homes and their future. All this needs to stop,” he said.
Abbas filled a role played in the past by Yasser Arafat, the long-time Palestine Liberation Organisation leader and symbol of the Palestinian movement.
Arafat was not invitedhis removal from the peace process was a major demand of Bush’s plan, a so-called road map to a two-state Israeli-Palestine settlement.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell noted with praise that Abbas’ pledge to end the intefadeh was made in Arabic and repeatedly.
Abbas and Sharon established improved trust, “but real trust is going to come from performance,” Powell said after the leaders’ statements.
As to whether Sharon’s promise to end “unauthorised outposts” went far enough, Powell said, “It’s a good start. It will show to the Palestinian people and to the world that Israel is prepared to do things that they were not prepared to do before this meeting.”
In other agreements:
:: Abbas pledged to run a Palestinian state based on the rule of law and democracy, without allowing weapons into the hands of rogue elements.
:: Sharon said his government understands “the importance of territorial contiguity” in the West Bank, a key demand of Palestinians.
:: Sharon accepted the principle of a Palestinian state. Abbas also publicly acknowledged Israel’s right to exist side by side with a Palestinian state. In a goodwill gesture, Israel had released scores of Palestinian prisoners in advance of the summit.
The Palestinians want the Israelis to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which were seized in the 1967 Six Day War. Sharon’s government has agreed to dismantle some Israeli settlements built in those territories but wants to retain others.
By the same token, Arab recognition of Israel’s right to exist and normalised relations are important elements of Bush’s peace plan, which envisions a Palestinian state by 2005.
From the summit, Bush flew to Qatar to visiting US troops in the forward command post from where the Iraq war was managed.
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