MADRID, June 25: Governments and leaders around the world on Tuesday praised US President George W. Bush’s speech supporting the creation of a Palestinian state, but told him Yasser Arafat’s fate could only be decided by the Palestinians themselves despite the US president’s call for a new leadership “not compromised by terror”.

Arafat himself said in Ramallah the question of who would lead the Palestinian people would “be decided by my people and no one else”.

China upheld its position as one of Arafat’s oldest allies. While welcoming Bush’s efforts to promote peace, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Arafat’s status as an elected leader was an internationally recognized fact.

“China hopes and believes that Palestine can soon resume its reconstruction work and we wish that under the leadership of Chairman Arafat the new government of Palestine can work more effectively,” Liu said.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan questioned the wisdom of holding elections in the Palestinian territories now, saying they might be won be radicals.

“The time for the elections is not optimal,” Annan told reporters when questioned about the new US strategy.

“You could find yourself in a situation that the radicals are the ones who get elected, and it will be the result of a democratic process and we have to accept that,” Annan said.

The European Union pointedly called for an international conference on the Middle East, a measure conspicuously absent from Bush’s long-awaited speech on Middle East peace, which he delivered Monday on the White House lawn.

Arab leaders voiced hope the landmark address would lead to a Palestinian state but Arab newspapers lambasted the speech as badly biased in favour of Israel.

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman said the British prime minister “does believe that he (Arafat) has let the Palestinian people down”, lending support to Bush’s view that a new leadership was necessary.

But both the British prime minister and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer stressed it was for the Palestinian people to choose their leader.

“The Palestinian people will alone decide who is their legitimate leader,” said Fischer in Berlin.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told parliament Britain would deal with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat if he were re-elected by the Palestinian Authority.

“We deal with the leaders that are elected and, in the case of dictatorial regimes, with those that are not elected,” he said.

Russia said it supported the policy speech but some points needed to be clarified.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesman — speaking a day after President Vladimir Putin warned that sidelining Arafat would be “dangerous and a mistake” — stressed that Bush had not made any “concrete or direct mention” that Arafat should go.

The EU said both Palestinian elections and an early peace conference were necessary, adding it was “satisfied” with the blueprint from Washington.

“(The EU) shares President Bush’s vision of two states living side by side in peace and security,” the EU said.

But the 15-nation bloc said a negotiated settlement required “urgent political action on behalf of the international community” and an international conference would be the “appropriate” approach.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who held talks on Tuesday with Arafat in Ramallah, said it was “only the Palestinians themselves who can choose their leaders”.

In Cairo, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, one of the main regional peace brokers, called Bush’s speech “totally balanced” but dismissed the notion that Bush had called for Arafat to be ousted as a condition for progress towards a Palestinian state.

“I do not see in this speech the removal of Arafat but a demand for reforms of the Palestinian Authority and the formation of a new administration,” Mubarak said.

Elsewhere, many Arab leaders voiced hope over Bush’s blueprint. Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said there were “positive points” but he too avoided mention of Arafat.

Jordan, one of only two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, insisted reforms “must come from within Palestinian society” and offered to work with Washington.—AFP