A rchive Date
[ 30-04-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/04/29/75830-ap.html
U.S. hails new Palestinian PM
By BARRY SCHWEID
Tue, April 29, 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States welcomed the approval of a new Palestinian leadership Tuesday, saying it would spur a burst of U.S. peacemaking efforts in the Middle East.
Secretary of State Colin Powell will go to the area to begin trying to advance Palestinian statehood once the newly confirmed cabinet begins its work, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Administration officials said confirmation of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and his cabinet would trigger the announcement of a roadmap, or blueprint, for peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians.
"We plan to present the roadmap to both parties shortly after Abu Mazen is sworn into office, a step likely to occur tomorrow," a State Department official said.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "The president looks forward to working with the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people as well as the Israeli government and the Israeli people to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East."
Fleischer and State Department officials said they did not know exactly when the roadmap would be released and under what circumstances. It calls for establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005.
Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the administration would work hard to reopen negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. However, he ruled out meeting Abbas on a trip to the region that Powell is taking this week.
"He has some work to do and I don't want to burden him on Day One," Powell said.
Declaring he hoped Abbas would speak out immediately about terrorism, Powell said progress toward peace "is going to require acceptance of obligations, performance, by both sides."
Boucher said Powell would leave Thursday and go to Spain, Albania, Syria and Lebanon and return to the region on a second trip.
After a few days' respite in Washington, Powell is expected to go to Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Russia.
It was a year ago in Madrid that the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, acting as a self-described quartet, decided to use the roadmap to get Israel and the Palestinians back to the peace table with the aim of Palestinian statehood and rolling back Israeli settlements on the West Bank.
In Syria, Powell is expected to hold tough talks with President Bashar Assad on U.S. allegations that Syria permitted fighters to cross the border into Iraq during the Iraq war, did not stop Iraqi officials from seeking refuge in Syria as Saddam Hussein's government crumbled and supports terrorism.
Syria is expected to be named a sponsor of terrorism again in the annual terrorism report the State Department is issuing Wednesday.
In Lebanon, Powell is expected to focus on activities by the militant group Hezbollah, which has fought a cross-border conflict with Israel.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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