Posted on 05/09/2004 8:14:36 AM PDT by knighthawk
THE Palestinians reacted angrily yesterday after US President George W. Bush threw into doubt a 2005 target date for their promised state.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat accused Mr Bush of torpedoing the Mideast peace road map drawn up by the US, the United Nations, European Union and Russia.
"President Bush's position removes any substance from the roadmap by calling into question the timetable for its implementation, which is an essential element of it," Mr Erakat said.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was more measured with his criticism, saying that any delay to statehood was "unrealistic".
"One ought already to have been proclaimed in 1998-99 under the terms of peace agreements already signed with Israel," he said.
Mr Bush's comments were made in an interview published yesterday by the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram.
"Well, 2005 may be hard, since 2005 is right around the corner," Mr Bush said.
"I think the timetable of 2005 isn't as realistic as it was two years ago."
Israel welcomed the comments but went further, ruling out any possibility of Palestinian statehood next year.
"The target date of 2005 has become an impossibility because we are still at the starting point of the roadmap as a result of the Palestinian Authority's refusal to combat terrorism," said Zalman Shoval, foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"Under these conditions, it's clear that the 2005 target is no longer realistic."
The White House said National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell would meet Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and other officials next week.
In Kuala Lumpur, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has accused Mr Bush and his Democratic Party rival in the presidential election John Kerry of kowtowing to Israel.
"I don't think Bush or Kerry are brave enough to oppose Israel in this presidential election campaign," Dr Mahathir said.
"This is why I say that Israel rules the world by proxy."
Dr Mahathir said "any presidential candidates in the US who fail to support Israel will lose". "It is not their hope to see this world governed according to laws. They just know how to talk like hypocrites," he said.
The Pope is Catholic...
Bears crap in the woods...
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