Bush to offer 'road map' for peace in Mideast
By John Donnelly, Globe Staff, 3/15/2003
boston.com
WASHINGTON - In a surprise announcement, President Bush said yesterday he would issue a proposal for a ''road map'' for peace between Israelis and Palestinians once a new Palestinian prime minister takes office and pledged he was ''personally committed'' to finding a negotiated solution.
Bush's declaration was made as he announced plans to travel to Portugal's Azores Islands tomorrow for a last-minute summit on Iraq. Analysts and even Bush's closest ally, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, interpreted the statement as an attempt to show the Arab world that the US administration understands that it needed to pay attention to the Israelis and Palestinians even amid war plans against Iraq.
An hour after Bush made his announcement at the White House Rose Garden, Blair, who is facing internal opposition to his support for military action, said in London that he felt strongly that such an initiative should coincide with the push against Iraq.
''I think it's precisely now, when we do have all this focus on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and Saddam and all the things that he has done, it's precisely now that we say to the Arab and Muslim world: We accept the obligation of evenhandedness,'' Blair said. ''We accept that it is right now that we have to say to people that the issue of peace between Palestinians and Israelis is as important as any other issue to us. ''
But few believed that a road map would yield immediate results, especially in the current climate of violence in the region. In the hours before Bush's speech, Israeli soldiers attacked hideouts of Palestinian fighters in Jenin and outside Nablus, killing at least 10 people in separate battles, the Israeli military reported.
The road map - which was first drawn up more than eight months ago by a junior State Department officer after US consultations with Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations - calls for a series of steps that are triggered only when the Palestinian leadership and security services end terrorist attacks. The same type of framework was used in the discarded Oslo peace process.
Details and timing of the proposal have not been disclosed.
State Department officials said yesterday that Israeli officials have suggested amendments to the road map for several months. It has not been shown to Palestinian officials, said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Israel enthusiastically backed Bush's initiative. ''We see eye to eye with President Bush,'' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yoni Peled.
But Palestinian leaders reacted more cautiously, saying that any road map should include a way to implement steps immediately.
The plan declares that the goal is to have two states, but it does not define what the final outcome would look like. According to US officials who have read the plan, there is neither a map of a Palestinian state nor a plan declaring which settlements would be emptied in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The plan says that Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians must stop, a central Israeli demand for any peace process. But analysts said Israel's armed incursions in Palestinian areas would have to cease as well.
''In order to move Palestinian society to unify against violence and terrorism, the Israelis are going to have to act decisively themselves and halt violence against Palestinians,'' said Philip C. Wilcox Jr., a former US counterterrorism official and now head of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, a Washington think tank. ''I don't think any new Palestinian leader can force Hamas and Islamic Jihad and these secular militants to stand down, unless he has powerful support in civil society behind him.''
Bush's announcement yesterday stunned diplomats at the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, which has coordinated Middle East peace efforts. Minutes before Bush's 10 a.m. declaration, diplomats were asking each other if anyone knew the subject of the president's address. ''We had no idea whatsoever it was coming,'' said one diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The White House denied that its initiative was timed to defuse opposition to any action against Iraq, saying it was a response to the nomination of a new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, who is expected to be approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council next week. In June, Bush called for the removal of elected Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and US officials have pushed for a prime minister to take charge of security and other issues.
Bush said the new Palestinian prime minister ''must hold a position of real authority.'' The senior administration official said the US government ''will make the judgment: Is it a credible person? And does this person have credible powers in the position of prime minister?''
Bush said: ''The time has come to move beyond entrenched positions and to take concrete actions to achieve peace. America is committed, and I am personally committed, to implementing our road map toward peace.''
The president said he expected ''contributions from Israel and the Palestinians to this document that will advance true peace.''
Several analysts said the Bush proposal probably had more to do with Iraq than the Israelis and Palestinians.
''I think it means the US is going to start the war next week,'' said Shlomo Avineri, a political scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. ''Before you go to war, you have to reach out to the Arab world. That's what I think he's doing.''
Stephen P. Cohen, national scholar of the Israel Policy Forum, said that the announcement was directly connected to the Iraq crisis.
''This shows you there is an understanding now in the American-British alliance that getting legitimacy in the Arab world and the world community about the removal of Saddam Hussein requires showing a level of seriousness regarding finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli problem,'' Cohen said.
Asked if President Bush was seeking a short- or long-term benefit from yesterday's announcement, Cohen said, ''It was fuel to get Blair to the Azores.''
Globe correspondent Dan Ephron contributed to this report from Jerusalem. John Donnelly can be reached at donnelly@globe.com.
This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 3/15/2003.
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