US President George W. Bush said on Friday he would unveil a long-delayed Middle East peace plan when a new Palestinian prime minister with "real authority" takes office, hoping to deflect Arab and European criticism of US policy ahead of a possible war with Iraq.
But the White House questioned the willingness of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to relinquish authority over security and peace policy to the prime minister as Bush has demanded.
"The time has come to move beyond entrenched positions and to take concrete actions to achieve peace," Bush said in a hastily arranged appearance in the White House Rose Garden with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Before announcing his plans for the so-called road map, with its goal of creating a Palestinian state by 2005, Bush consulted with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordanian King Abdullah and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah.
As progress is made toward peace, Bush said Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories "must end."
Washington has been under pressure from the other three members of the so-called Quartet of mediating powers -- Russia, the United Nations and the European Union -- to release the road map amid charges Bush was too preoccupied with Iraq to work toward Middle East peace.
But analysts doubted Bush's overture would help sway Arab public opinion or boost US chances for an Iraq war resolution in the UN Security Council. "I think it will take something considerably more dramatic than this to shake the Security Council loose," said Warren Bass, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
France, which has vowed to veto a new Iraq resolution, welcomed Bush's move, but stressed that Paris had been calling for action on the road map for months.
"We take note with satisfaction of President Bush's words on the Middle East," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has named Mahmoud Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, to be prime minister, though he has yet to accept the post.
The move followed urgent calls by Western powers to rid the Palestinian Authority of corruption and violence through widespread reforms and appoint a prime minister with real powers to govern its day-to-day affairs.
Last June Bush spelled out his vision of a Palestinian state with Arafat no longer at its helm.
"To be a credible and responsible partner, the new Palestinian prime minister must hold a position of real authority. We expect that such a Palestinian prime minister will be confirmed soon," Bush said.
"Immediately upon confirmation, the road map for peace will be given to the Palestinians and the Israelis," he added.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the prime minister "in principle" has the authority that is needed.
But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer questioned whether Arafat would deliver.
"Yasser Arafat has not shown a history of being willing to relinquish power in reality. And so it is an important issue to determine whether or not the Palestinians are, indeed, engaging in meaningful reforms. The president hopes so. If they are, this president is prepared to take action," Fleischer said.
Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, told al-Jazeera television that the new Palestinian prime minister could visit the White House "at some point in time when it is appropriate."
Long-delayed
Violence has surged, with the Palestinians accusing Israel of stepping up action against the 2-1/2-year-old Palestinian uprising for an independent state as the world focuses on Iraq. Israeli forces killed 10 militants within the last 24 hours.
The Quartet has been trying for more than nine months to draft a new plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The road map is a phased peace proposal that aims to calm hostilities through reciprocal measures and sets as its ultimate goal the establishment of a Palestinian state in 2005 on condition Israel's security is safeguarded.
The United States at first said the plan should wait until Israeli elections in January and the formation of a new Israeli government. Some officials suggested the road map should be put on hold until after a possible invasion of Iraq.
But British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's key ally on Iraq, pressed Washington to become more involved in finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Bush's announcement could help assuage Arab and European doubts about US policy while helping allies such as Blair.
But some Arabs and analysts of the Arab world treated US and British promises with deep skepticism and said they doubted Arab public opinion would buy the idea that Bush would work now for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
"The skepticism (about Bush's commitment) is widely shared in the Arab world and in Europe. Let's hope it's not just another announcement cynically to gain support in Europe and the Middle East," said Edward Abington, a consultant to the Palestinian Authority and former US diplomat in Jerusalem.
US and British officials dismissed any suggestion that Bush's announcement was just a ploy before bombing Iraq.
"I think it is precisely now when we do have all this focus on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and (Iraqi President) Saddam (Hussein) ... that we say to the Arab and Muslim world that we accept the obligation of even-handedness," Blair told a news conference.
Blair, under enormous domestic political pressure over his support for possible war against Baghdad, said Arafat and Abbas had indicated to him in a telephone call that the new prime minister might be able to take office as early as next week.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed the news. "I think that there are elements of the road map that can be put in place very rapidly," he told reporters in Athens.
(China Daily March 15, 2003)
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