WASHINGTON, May 4: A group of 58 former US ambassadors and diplomats on Tuesday condemned US policy in the Middle East saying that President George W.Bush had cost the United States "credibility, prestige and friends".

The former diplomats released a letter which they said was inspired by a similar protest made by British diplomats to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Like the British diplomats, the former US foreign service officers said they were "deeply concerned" by Bush's endorsement last month of a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

The plan has now been put in doubt by its rejection in a vote by Sharon's Likud party. The diplomats, who include former ambassadors to many Middle East countries, said Bush's policy "defies" and "flouts" a series of UN resolutions on the Palestinian conflict and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their land seized by Israel.

"By closing the door to negotiations with Palestinians and the possibility of a Palestinian state, you have proved that the United States is not an even-handed peace partner," said the letter to Bush.

"You have placed US diplomats, civilians and military doing their jobs overseas in an untenable and even dangerous position. "Your unqualified support of Sharon's extra-judicial assassinations, Israel's Berlin Wall-like barrier, its harsh military measures in occupied territories, and now your endorsement of Sharon's unilateral plan are costing our country its credibility, prestige and friends."

The letter was drafted by Andrew Killgore, a former US ambassador to Qatar, and Richard Curtiss, a former chief inspector of the US Information Agency. The signatories include Ronald Spiers, a former under secretary of state, and Chas Freeman, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, as well as former top diplomats in Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

The letter was released as top officials from the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations met in New York to consider the future of the so-called "roadmap" to Middle East peace.

Many observers said Bush's backing for the Sharon proposal had killed off the "roadmap". But UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and top European Union diplomat Javier Solana met in a bid to breathe new life into the initiative originally aimed at setting up a Palestinian state by 2005.

The diplomats called on the US president to "reassert American principles of justice and fairness in our relations with all the peoples of the Middle East. Support negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, with the United States serving as a truly honest broker."

They added that "a return to the time-honoured American tradition of fairness will reverse the present tide of ill will in Europe and the Middle East - even in Iraq."

The group said they "applaud" their 52 British counterparts who last week wrote to Blair urging him to use his influence to steer the United States away from "doomed" policies.

The British ex-diplomats also included many officials with a wealth of experience in the Middle East. They criticised Blair for toeing the US line, and urged him to use his reputed influence in Washington to get the US administration to change tack. "If that is unacceptable or unwelcome, there is no case for supporting policies which are doomed to failure," said the British letter. -AFP