April 9, 2003	Wednesday	Safar 6, 1424

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HILLSBOROUGH (Northern Ireland), April 8: US President George Bush promised on Tuesday to turn his focus to settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was removed from power.

Bush held out the Northern Ireland peace process, spearheaded by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as a possible model, saying he was “willing to spend the same amount of energy in the Middle East.”

“The end of Saddam’s regime will...remove a source of violence and instability in the Middle East,” Mr Bush said after his third face-to-face meeting in less than a month with Mr Blair, his main ally in invading Iraq.

At Blair’s urging, Bush has promised to publish a so-called “road map” peace plan, which envisions creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, as soon as Palestinian lawmakers confirm a new cabinet under prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen.

Saying he was “pleased” with the selection, President Bush told reporters after a two-day summit meeting: “I look forward to him (Abbas) finally putting his cabinet in place so we can release the road map.”

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday that Arafat was undermining Abbas’s bid to establish a government committed to reform and the premier-designate was considering pulling out rather than presenting his cabinet on Thursday as expected.

A senior Palestinian minister close to Arafat denied the report. “There are no pressures being exerted on Abu Mazen. Any talk about this is completely unfounded,” Saeb Erekat said.

“Abu Mazen is still conducting consultations with Palestinian factions for the cabinet. He will present the cabinet to the Legislative Council (parliament) within the timeline granted to him by the Basic Law.”

‘VISION OF BROADER PEACE’: Europeans have welcomed US professions of commitment to the road map, regarding it as a means to count anger in the Arab world over the US and British invasion of Iraq.

But some analysts and diplomats have said they are sceptical of Bush’s commitment to mediating between the Israelis and the Palestinians. They say Bush promised to release the road map as a favour to Blair, who faced stern opposition at home for backing Bush in Iraq.

Emboldened by progress in the war, Bush said both he and Blair were “determined to move toward our vision of broader peace in that region.”

“We’re committed to implementing the road map toward peace, to bring closer to the day when two states — Israel and Palestine — (live) in peace and stability,” Bush said.

“Peace in the Middle East will require overcoming deep divisions of history and religion. Yet we know this is possible; it is happening in Northern Ireland,” Bush added, citing Blair’s efforts to breathe new life into the British-ruled province’s flagging peace process.

“To those who can sometimes say that the process in the Middle East is hopeless, I say we can look at Northern Ireland and take some hope from that,” Blair told reporters.

ISRAEL WANTS CHANGES:But Israel’s new rightist coalition government, which has insisted that diplomacy cannot move forward until Palestinian attacks end, has already signalled its desire for modifications to the road map.

The Palestinians are expected to have fewer reservations about the peace plan than Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government, some of whose members favour continued Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said Washington intends to promote the peace plan “as it is” without amendments by either side, but insisted it could not be forced on the parties.—Reuters