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Summit aspiration(附图)
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/06/12 10:01  上海英文星报


  AQABA, Jordan - US President George W. Bush hopes new support from top Arab leaders will give a Middle East peace plan fresh impetus, and he consulted with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday, ahead of meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers.

  "This is an important moment, a moment that holds promise," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said June 4 on Air Force One as Bush flew here. Still, he added, "this is the Middle East." Things could become derailed quickly, given the volatile history of the region, he said.

  Bush expressed optimism before leaving Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, for Jordan. "If all sides fulfill their obligations, we can make steady progress on the road toward Palestinian statehood, a secure Israel and a just and comprehensive peace," the president said.

  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak accompanied Bush to the plane and shook hands with him before the US president flew here. Bush and King Abdullah II posed for photographs before meeting in Jordan.

  Later, in this Jordanian port on the Gulf of Aqaba, Bush was meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, first separately, then in a three-way summit.

  The leaders sought to capitalize on momentum that seemed to build a day earlier in Egypt.

  "We shall continue to work for a Middle East that is free of strife and violence, living in harmony without the threat of terrorism or dangers of weapons of mass destruction," Mubarak said Tuesday, reading a statement on behalf of himself, Abbas and the leaders of Jordan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. They met with Bush at Sharm el-Sheik, an Egyptian Red Sea resort.

  The Arabs' statement was short on specifics, but US officials said it pointed in the right direction.

  And they noted one noticeable absence from the talks. "Yasser Arafat was not here today, and Prime Minister Abbas was," said Secretary of State Colin Powell. "We saw a transformed leadership here today."

  Arafat, the longtime Palestine Liberation Organization leader and symbol of the Palestinian movement, was not invited. His removal from the peace process was a major demand of Bush's plan, a so-called road map to a two-state Israel-Palestine accord.

  Powell warned Arafat not "to be a spoiler" for peace efforts.

  "Terror threatens my nation; terror threatens Arab states; terror threatens the state of Israel; terror threatens the emergence of a Palestinian state. Terror must be opposed, and it must be defeated," Bush said as he shared a platform with the Arab leaders, the deep blue waters of the Red Sea serving as a backdrop.

  Ismail Abu Shanab, spokesman for Hamas, which has taken responsibility for numerous suicide bombings against Israelis, said on ABC television's "Nightline": "If the occupation stops, the Palestinians are willing to live in peace and stop all kinds of violence."

  Despite the optimism that emerged Tuesday, US officials cautioned that important obstacles remain to achieving peace, and much tough wrangling lies ahead.

  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 normalized relations are important elements of Bush's peace plan, which envisions a Palestinian state by 2005.

  As of now, only Egypt and Jordan have recognized Israel, although they withdrew their ambassadors with the outbreak of violence in September 2000.

  Israel had hoped that Egypt and Jordan would agree to return their ambassadors as part of Monday's statement.

  "We have signed an agreement with Egypt and Jordan. They should have their ambassadors here, but they took them back," said Dan Meridor, a prominent member of Sharon's Likud party and an ex-Cabinet member.

  Sharon will issue a statement accepting the principle of a Palestinian state, an Israeli official said. Abbas will recognize Israel's right to exist side by side with a Palestinian state, the Palestinians' minister of cabinet affairs, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said on American television.

  In a goodwill gesture, Israel released scores of Palestinian prisoners.

  Powell said that in any agreement, Israel "must always be seen as a Jewish state."

  "Israel must deal with the settlements," Bush told the Arab summit. "Israel must make sure there's a continuous territory that the Palestinians can call home."

  The White House said Bush meant to say "contiguous," and Powell said that meant that a Palestinian state could not be chopped up haphazardly.

  Sharon has said he probably would commit Israel to dismantling settlements set up without the approval of the Israeli government. Stopping all settlement construction is a major element of the peace plan.

  Abbas was expected to pledge to stop the "military intefadeh," a reference to armed militant attacks that have killed more than 750 Israelis in the latest round of violence, including about 350 from suicide bombings. During the same period, more than 2,350 Palestinians have been killed.




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