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Bush pledges Palestinian state after pressure from Saudis

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, November 13, 2001
WASHINGTON Ñ Saudi Arabia succeeded in pressuring President George Bush to reaffirm a U.S. pledge to help establish a Palestinian state.

U.S. officials said Saudi anger at the Bush administration prompted the president to revise his original speech to the United National General Assembly and include Washington's support for a Palestinian state and a solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The original draft was to have dealt exclusively with the U.S.-led war against international terrorism.

"We are working toward a day when two states, Israel and Palestine, live peacefully together within secure and recognized borders, as called for by the Security Council resolutions," Bush told the General Assembly on Saturday. "We will do all in our power to bring both parties back into negotiations. But peace will only come when all have sworn off forever incitement, violence and terror."

Riyad was angered by Bush's refusal to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and launch a Middle East peace plan. In unusually harsh criticism by an ally, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Bin Al Faisal said Bush could not be an honest broker without meeting Arafat. Prince Saud said Riyad was "angrily frustrated" that the U.S. administration has failed to begin a promised new peace initiative in the Middle East.

"The thing that is so sad is that what is needed to make peace is very little," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Bin Faisal told the New York Times.

On Friday, Prince Saud met Bush at the White House. The Saudi foreign minister refused to answer questions after the meeting.

Later, the minister, described as sounding satisfied with Bush's UN speech, told the official Saudi Press Agency that his meeting with president was productive and that the two men discussed the war against terrorism and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Prince Saud said he hoped that Washington would soon release a peace plan for the Middle East.

Palestinian officials said they were not surprised by the Bush decision to avoid an Arafat meeting. They said Arafat did not request a meeting with Bush.

"He [Bush] has to decide how important it is to meet President Arafat," PA International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath said in Washington on Friday. "But his schedule, his calculations or whatever have to be made by him only."

Earlier, the Saudi minister told the New York Times that Bush could not be an honest broker without meeting Arafat. Prince Saud said Riyad was "angrily frustrated" that the U.S. administration has failed to begin a promised new peace initiative in the Middle East.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell plans to meet Arafat on Sunday. Arafat addresses the General Assembly on Sunday. Powell said he understood the Saudi anger against Washington.

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