June 4, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1424

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SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Egypt), June 3: US President George Bush used his maiden Middle East mission on Tuesday to win “firm” Arab rejection of “terror” and urged Israel to give the Palestinians a whole state they “can call home”.

Mr Bush heard strong Arab statements of support for the internationally drafted roadmap at a summit in Egypt, which included Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas, whom he met for the first time.

“We welcome the roadmap,” Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on behalf of Mr Abbas and four other Arab leaders at a press conference with the US president. “We particularly appreciate the strong commitment of President Bush to implement it in full.”

The roadmap, drafted by the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, outlines steps both the Israelis and Palestinians must take to end 32 months of fighting and create a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel by 2005.

Mr Bush renewed a pledge for the creation of such a state that he made one year ago.

“I am the kind of person who when I say something, I mean it,” George Bush said earlier in the conference room at the summit in this Red Sea resort.

“I mean that the world needs to have Palestinian state that is free, and at peace, and therefore my government will work with all parties concerned to achieve that vision.”

At the joint press conference with President Mubarak, with the Red Sea as a backdrop, Mr Bush welcomed Arab efforts to fight “terrorism”, which he said threatened many countries as well as the emergence of a Palestinian state.

US-ARAB DIFFERENCES: The meeting began after a two-hour delay, which the Middle East News Agency said was caused by differences during preliminary informal talks over US requests to speed up Arab normalization with Israel.

Mr Bush sat down with Abbas, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdullah of Jordan, King Hamad of Bahrain and Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia.

The United States and Israel have backed Mr Abbas over veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whom they blame for the breakdown of the peace process.

Mr Bush looked Mr Abbas straight in the eye and said: “You, sir, have got a responsibility and you have assumed it. I want to work with you as do the other leaders here.

“We must not allow a few people, a few killers, a few terrorists, to destroy the dreams and hopes of the many,” he said at the beginning of the half-hour formal session.

Then he turned to Israel.

“Israel must deal with the settlements. Israel must make sure there is continuous territory that the Palestinians can call home,” Mr Bush said.

White House officials said later Bush’s preference was for the word “contiguous”, which in this context is normally taken to mean a self-contained state, not criss-crossed by roads open only to Israelis or separated by Jewish settlements.

Arab participants said they were made uneasy by a call from US Secretary of State Colin Powell to speed up normalization of ties with Israel, without being sure that Israel would return occupied Arab land.—AFP