June 25, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 13, 1423

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WASHINGTON, June 24: US President George W. Bush on Monday said the United States supports creation of a provisional Palestinian state but only if a “new and different Palestinian leadership” is found other than Yasser Arafat.

“When the Palestinian people have new leaders, new institutions, and new security arrangements with their neighbours, the United States of America will support the creation of a Palestinian state,” Bush said in a long-awaited and delayed statement of his Middle East policy, given even as violence wracked the region.

A senior aide, asked if this meant Palestinian President Arafat must go before the United States would back a provisional state, said: “We’ve been very clear that we think there has been significant problems with the Palestinian leadership.”

Bush said of the new state that the borders and certain aspects of its sovereignty would be provisional until resolved as part of a final settlement.

The aides said if the conditions are met, a provisional Palestinian state could be established in 18 months and then made permanent in about three years as part of a final Middle East settlement.

The US president called upon Israel to release frozen Palestinian assets and also to freeze settlements in occupied areas. He said Israeli forces needed to withdraw to Sept 28, 2000, positions, ie to positions before the start of the Palestinian uprising.

Accusing the Palestinian Authority of encouraging terrorism, Bush urged the Palestinians to bring forward a new, more dynamic leadership, offering help in organizing local elections by the end of the year.—Reuters