WASHINGTON, March 15: President George Bush has promised to give a roadmap for peace in the Middle East soon after the confirmation of the new Palestinian prime minister.

The roadmap also envisages the creation of a separate Palestinian State to “exist side by side with Israel,” the US President said on Friday. But he said said that “a new Palestinian prime minister with real authority” must first be confirmed before US unveils its new peace plan.

Confirmation of the new prime minister will fulfil the Israeli condition of not dealing with the current Palestinian leader, Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Mr Bush’s announcement aims at assuaging critics in Europe and in the Arab world who have slammed his administration for neglecting the Mideast crisis while pressing on with its Iraq war plans.

It is extremely important that “we accept the obligation of even-handedness” in dealing with the Arabs and the Israelis, said British Prime Minister Tony Blair while commenting on Bush’s plan.

Speaking at a news conference in London minutes after Bush’s announcement, Blair emphasized the need for “equal focus on the plight of the people whose lives have been devastated because of lack of progress in the peace process.”

But Arab journalists both in Washington and London thought the move aimed at thwarting criticism of the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq crisis and the roadmap may be forgotten as soon as the crisis is over.

“Is it not too little and too late,” an Arab journalist asked Blair.

“We remain skeptical about the timing of this announcement,” said another Arab journalist in Washington. “Is it not a show of even-handedness,” he asked.

Mr Bush said at his surprise appearance in the White House Rose Garden that “America is committed and I am personally committed to this roadmap.”

The ‘roadmap’ or formula for peace was devised in partnership with the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. It aims to create a Palestinian state by the year 2005, carved out of land that Israel has held for more than 35 years.

Mr Bush said the Palestinian state envisaged in the roadmap must be a reformed and peaceful and democratic state “that abandons forever the use of terror.”

The government of Israel, he said, must take concrete steps to support the emergence of a viable and credible Palestinian state, and to work as quickly as possible toward a final status agreement.

“As progress is made toward peace, settlement activity in the occupied territories must end. And the Arab states must oppose terrorism, support the emergence of a peaceful and democratic Palestine, and state clearly that they will live in peace with Israel,” said Bush.