June 20, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1423

AMMAN, June 19: Jordan and Egypt cast doubt on Wednesday on proposals for a provisional Palestinian state being considered by the United States and condemned Israel’s threat to reoccupy Palestinian land in response to new suicide attacks.

The foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab states with peace treaties with Israel, rejected any talk of a provisional Palestinian state and called for a timetable for an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

They made their comments in Amman following talks between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah, part of Arab diplomatic activity in anticipation of the now delayed speech by President Bush.

Bush had been scheduled to unveil his Middle East policy on Wednesday, but postponed the speech after a suicide attack in Jerusalem on Tuesday killed 19 passengers on a bus, the Washington Post said.

He now plans to deliver the speech between Thursday and Monday, it said.

US officials have said an interim Palestinian state is one option Bush is considering.

“We don’t understand the meaning of a provisional Palestinian state. It should be permanent in line with the definition of a final solution,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said.

“In international law there is no reference to a provisional state,” he added.

Muasher said the Palestinian state should be established in the whole of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the eastern sector of Al Quds.—Reuters