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To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (173489)	6/18/2002 7:25:08 AM
From: Giordano Bruno	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Bush Prepares Mideast Plan, Arab Paper Gives Details Tue Jun 18, 6:56 AM ET By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush ( news - web sites) was expected to lay out this week a framework on how to create an independent Palestinian state with a constitution and a unified security force, but an Arab newspaper in London published what it said were details. Bush's vision, which could include a recommendation for a provisional Palestinian state with temporary borders and limited sovereignty, could be announced as early as Tuesday or Wednesday. However, Washington informed Egypt of the outlines of the plan for an independent Palestinian state and a Middle East peace conference, a pan-Arab newspaper said on Tuesday. The London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat said the proposal included "a sovereign independent Palestinian state in areas A, currently under Palestinian Authority ( news - web sites) (PA) control and B, under PA civil control and Israeli security control." "The state will have a seat at the United Nations ( news - web sites) and have global recognition, and it will be the negotiating party (in talks with Israel)," the paper said, quoting an Egyptian source. Areas A and B cover around 40 percent of the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians want the West Bank -- including East Jerusalem -- in a future state. An "international meeting" would be held in Washington in September, on the sidelines of a United Nations general assembly meeting, the Egyptian source said. The meeting would include Syria and Lebanon, Arab League chief Amr Moussa, and countries involved in the Saudi peace initiative adopted by an Arab summit in March which called for Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders in return for peace with Arab states, the paper quoted a senior Arab source as saying. However, the situation may have been further complicated by another suicide bombing on Tuesday, in which at least 18 people were killed on a Jerusalem bus, according to police. As many as 50 others were reported injured. Whether Bush would lay out a specific timetable for an independent state of Palestine was a subject of discussion at high levels at the White House and abroad. Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who spoke to Bush by phone on Sunday, said on Monday a timetable was needed for the creation of a Palestinian state and that he hoped it would be realized by the end of Bush's first term, which expires in January 2005. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ( news - web sites), who met Bush at the White House a week ago, said on Sunday that "the conditions are not ripe" for the establishment of any kind of Palestinian state. Bush said last week after talks with the Saudi foreign minister that he intended to lay out "a vision that will help lead toward two states living side-by-side." The president is expected to outline a path for development of a Palestinian state, and is likely to recommend moving beyond Yasser Arafat ( news - web sites)'s Palestinian Authority. AT LEAST 18 DEAD Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice ( news - web sites), said on Friday that the current Palestinian Authority is "corrupt and cavorts with terror," triggering an angry retort from Arafat: "We are implementing only what our people want us to do and we do not take orders from anyone." Bush has declared himself disappointed in Arafat's leadership and increasingly has sought to marginalize him, saying the issue is not Arafat, but rather the Palestinian people, and U.S. envoys have opened contacts with other Palestinian representatives. Israel on Sunday started building a 70-mile (110-km) fence aimed at stopping Palestinian suicide bombers from reaching Israel. At least 18 dead were reported in Tuesday's suicide bombing, including commuters and high school students. A top Israeli policeman said on Tuesday more Palestinian suicide bombers were on the loose and planning to strike. Police had been deployed across the city and search helicopters sent into the air early on Tuesday after intelligence information that at least five suicide bombers, including two women, were about to strike in Israel. "There are more warnings," Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy told reporters at the scene of the attack in a southern neighborhood of Jerusalem. "We are deployed and are still searching for the suspects." Levy said that before Tuesday's blast, police had received what he called a "hot warning" that a bombing was about to take place in Jerusalem. He told reporters earlier in the week that Jerusalem police had averted three suicide bombings in the past six weeks by arresting two bombers who entered the city and a third at a military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Bethlehem. SECURITY AND EDUCATION Rather than seeking to impose solutions, Bush was expected to offer principles within which the most difficult issues can be negotiated. The institutions of a Palestinian state should include a constitution, a unified security force, an education system and a health care system -- giving the Palestinian people hope for the future, Bush is expected to stress. "We must build the institutions necessary for the evolution of a Palestinian state, which can live peacefully in the region and provide hope for the suffering Palestinian people," Bush said last week. Bush has been considering the option of calling for formation of a provisional, or interim, Palestinian state. Secretary of State Colin Powell ( news - web sites) last week raised the possibility that an interim Palestinian state might be necessary before a permanent state called Palestine could be established. Israel has rejected the idea and the Palestinians are skeptical of it. The president, after a series of consultations with regional leaders, is also expected to reiterate his April 4 call for Israel to halt Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas and be willing to negotiate with the Palestinians. Sharon has ruled out political negotiations until Palestinian attacks against Israelis stop.

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (173489)	6/18/2002 7:34:12 AM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

UPDATE 1-France says room for manoeuvre in EU stability pact June 18, 2002 06:41 AM ET PARIS, June 18 (Reuters) - France's new government on Tuesday said there was room for an "intelligent interpretation" of the EU's Stability and Growth Pact, which caps national budget deficits, and more emphasis should be put on economic growth. Nicole Fontaine, industry minister in the new centre-right cabinet, said euro zone countries should respect the stability pact and its deficit limits but they still had room to manoeuvre. Government sources meanwhile said the cabinet that was named on Monday would meet on June 27 to assess the results of an audit of public finances that could show France's deficit was bigger than acknowledged by their left-wing predecessors. The audit is expected to estimate a public deficit for 2002 as high as 2.5 percent of gross domestic product, compared to the 1.8-1.9 percent that the previous Socialist-led government predicted. Fontaine, a former speaker of the European Parliament, told France Inter radio that France and others in the 12-nation euro zone should seek an "intelligent interpretation" of the pact, adding that too much emphasis had been put so far on the word stability, and not enough on growth. "I think we can consider together how we can intelligently interpret this stability and growth pact, which we will do right away," said Fontaine. CHIRAC SUGGESTION RUFFLES EUROPEAN FEATHERS France's new administration has promised to deliver on all pledges made by newly re-elected President Jacques Chirac, who wants to make tax cuts a priority to stimulate economic growth and postpone pledges to get rid of France's deficit by 2004. He has suggested the 2004 deadline could be pushed back to 2007. That idea has ruffled feathers in other European capitals nervous about tampering with a pact which was established as a guarantee of government restraint on spending in return for the European Central Bank keeping interest rates as low as possible. "There is room for manoeuvre," Fontaine said, without giving details on what exactly she meant. "We tend to forget that this is the pact for stability and growth. "This second part, which is complementary, has not been developed much up until now. I'd even say we haven't thought about it," she said. "The first thing is to think together how we can develop growth and job creation thanks to this stability pact. That's the challenge for Europe." Finance Minister Francis Mer has already said the stability pact was "not set in stone", although his ministry was quick in the wake of the comments a few weeks ago to limit the potential damage by confirming that the overall lines of the pact would be respected. France got a warning from EU partner Germany on Monday when an unnamed official said that Paris must not miss EU targets for lower budget deficits. Mer is due to attend talks with other EU finance ministers in Madrid on Thursday ahead of an EU summit in the Spanish city of Seville at the end of the week. The stability pact obliged government to keep deficit within three percent of GDP or face heavy fines and to aim for balanced budget in the medium term. Subsequent discussions at EU level have produced commitments to get rid of deficits by 2004.