US President George W. Bush on Wednesday reiterated his demand for the removal of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from the Palestinian leadership, saying that progress has been made in carrying out institutional reforms in the Palestinian Authority which are needed to pave the way for the creation of a provisional Palestinian state.
"Mr. Arafat has failed deliver; I still feel the same way. ... I know the Palestinian people will be better served by new leadership," Bush said at a joint press conference at the White House with visiting Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.
"The (reform) issue is much bigger than a person, as far as I'mconcerned," said Bush, who made the change of Palestinian leadership one of the preconditions for US support in a provisional Palestinian state while unveiling a new Middle East peace plan last month.
Saying that institutional changes are essential to the evolution of a Palestinian state, Bush said he believes that progress has been made to this end.
Bush's demand for change of Palestinian leadership, the removalof Arafat in particular, is widely criticized by the internationalcommunity and perceived as an interference in the internal affairsof the Palestinians.
(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2002)
