Bush to send letter to Qureia

Haaretz ^ | May 06, 2004 | Aluf Benn

[yonif]

United States President George W. Bush told Jordan's King Abdullah on Thursday that he would send a letter to Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia in the near future to balance the letter of understanding he had transferred to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Bush said he would shortly send a personal letter to Qureia "that will explain my views, and we will expand dialogue between the United States and Palestinians."

In the letter, Bush will clarify that the U.S. believes that the problems concerning a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians should be resolved in negotiations between the two sides.

Bush stressed Thursday that the road map peace is the best way to achieve peace, and that the U.S. is not trying to set the outcome of the negotiations of a final status agreement. King Abdullah said at the meeting that any unilateral move needs to be part of the road map.

"As I have previously stated, all final-status issues must be negotiated between the parties. ... And the United States will not prejudice the outcome of those negotiations," Bush said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday expressed support for Sharon's disengagement plan.

"The Likud party didn't vote for it. But when we look at the Israeli public, there's an 80 percent approval rating for this kind of initiative," Powell said.

He voiced the hope that the plan would ultimately be accepted by the Israeli public, despite the Likud rejection.

"And to the extent that the president's embrace of this initiative helped generate that kind of support within the Israeli public, that's useful. And I think Prime Minister Sharon will be able to use the president's embracing of the plan, and this public support, to ultimately prevail in getting the plan approved and we can move forward."

Asked if Abdullah would receive a letter from the United States, Powell told reporters, "We'll see the king tomorrow and I think the king will be pleased."

One U.S. official said the letter would reiterate Bush's commitment to the idea that "final status issues need to be negotiated through the two parties" and to his vision of an Israeli and a Palestinian state living in peace.

The official, who asked not to be named, said the letter to Abdullah would chiefly cover U.S.-Jordanian bilateral issues.

Bush administration officials have argued that the letter to Sharon was necessary to give a push to the prime minister's plan to withdraw from all 21 settlements in Gaza and from four of 120 settlements in the West Bank.

[yonif]

I guess the murders of the Israeli mother and her five children that other day weren't enough to stop the peace process with terrorists.

[yonif]

Ping.

[ImpotentRage]

That was my first thought, too. And to think that we American taxpayers are supporting these Palestinian terrorists makes it all the worse.