WASHINGTON, Feb 15: Ending the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel is “a critical component” to winning the war on terrorism, the White House said on Friday in a strategic blueprint for that global campaign.

“No other issue has so colored the perception of the United States in the Muslim world,” according to the 30-page “National Strategy for Combating Terrorism.”

The document also says the United States will support moderate, modern governments in Muslim nations, and recognizes poverty as one of the underlying conditions that feeds extremism.

And, with a war against Iraq looming, it emphasizes past US military action to aid Muslim populations, such as in Kosovo, Kuwait, or Afghanistan.

While disarming Iraq has pushed other US foreign policy goals from the front page, the official said Washington’s chief aim in the “war on terrorism” is dismantling the Al Qaeda.

The document lays out what it calls a “4D” strategy four routing extremist groups: defeat them; deny them support or sanctuary; diminish the underlying causes that benefit terrorists; and defend the United States.

It fleshes out US President George W. Bush’s stark warning that “either you’re with us, or you’re with the terrorists,” and paints efforts to fulfill his two-state vision of Middle East peace as a front in the campaign.

“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is critical because of the toll of human suffering, because of America’s close relationship with the state of Israel and key Arab states, and because of that region’s importance to other global priorities of the United States,” according to the strategy.

Bush has said he wants to see Israeli living in security alongside a Palestinian state, whose creation he has conditioned on an end to anti-Israeli terrorism and sweeping reforms of Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority.

“The United States can play a crucial role but, ultimately, lasting peace can only come when Israelis and Palestinians resolve the issues and end the conflict between them,” the document says.

The blueprint restates the Bush administration’s longstanding position that poverty, a lack of political rights, and regional disputes do not justify terrorism.

“However, many terrorist organizations that have little in common with the poor and destitute masses exploit these conditions to their advantage,” it says.

The document also holds out a carrot of sorts to the seven nations Washington has identified as state sponsors of terrorism saying that even Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Cuba, Libya, Syria and Sudan could one day join the US-led coalition against extremist violence.

“We are firmly committed to removing countries from the list once they have taken the necessary steps under our law and policy. A checkered past does not foreclose future membership in the coalition against terrorism,” it says.

The strategy calls for all government agencies fighting terrorism to take steps to bolster foreign language skills and says intelligence agencies must enhance their resources, notably by recruiting more human agents.

“What concerns me the most right know is what we don’t know,” said the senior US official. “You never know what you don’t know.” —AFP