Bush acknowledges need for Mideast peace push
Source: Reuters
(Adds comments from Arab League's Moussa, paragraphs 11-13) By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Thursday acknowledged the need for "concerted efforts" to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after a panel on the Iraq war urged revived U.S. diplomacy to defuse broader regional tensions. But Bush, while backing British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Middle East mission this month, stopped short of endorsing the Iraq Study Group's proposal for a "renewed and sustained" U.S. push for a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace. Bush spoke at a White House news conference with Blair a day after the bipartisan commission headed by former Secretary of State James Baker issued recommendations for major strategy shifts in the unpopular war in Iraq. Blair made clear to Bush his long-held view, echoed in the report, that any resolution of the Iraq conflict is tied to settling the festering Israeli-Palestinian dispute and reducing tensions across the broader Middle East. Although Bush did not go as far as accepting a direct linkage between the two conflicts, he cast the U.S. strategy on the Israeli-Palestinian issue as part of a battle against extremists in the region. "It will take concerted efforts to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East," Bush told reporters. But Bush, who has mostly avoided a hands-on role in Middle East diplomacy, appeared content to leave the next major step to Blair, who has been under fire at home for his staunch support of the U.S. president's approach in Iraq. "Prime Minister Blair informed me that he will be heading to the Middle East soon to talk to both the Israelis and the Palestinians," Bush said. "And I support that mission." Blair said, "I believe that by moving this forward we send a very strong signal not just to the region, but to the whole of the world, that we are even-handed and just in the application of our values." CONFLICTS INTERTWINED? Arab leaders have long insisted that the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict and the Iraq war are intertwined, with fighting between Israel and the Palestinians a catalyst for regional strife. Arab leaders voice frustration over what they see as Washington's bias in favor of the Jewish state. Speaking in Washington on Thursday after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the time was right for the United States to play a more active role in brokering peace. The United States must return to the role of "honest broker" in trying to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict amid signs the peace process could be revived, he said. "The United States, at a certain stage, lost that capacity but still an honest broker role is open for the United States," Moussa said in a speech to a Washington think-tank. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Thursday it was wrong to link the Arab-Israeli conflict with wider regional problems, and said he did not expect U.S. pressure. Blair said his trip would focus on trying to remove obstacles to restarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He said it would be important to secure the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants and help the Palestinians forge a unity government that accepts Israel's right to exist. The Palestinian cabinet is now dominated by Hamas, an Islamist group sworn to Israel's destruction."Whatever way forward will have to be on the basis you get an empowered Palestinian government with whom everyone can negotiate and deal with," Blair said. Bush promised to assist the effort but cautioned that it would be impossible to impose a settlement. Rice, who returned from Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories last week, is expected to return to the Middle East early in the new year. But such plans appeared to fall short of the Baker group's recommendation of an intense U.S.-led peace effort. It called for negotiations as soon as possible sponsored by the United States or the Quartet of international mediators on a two-track approach in which Israel would deal with Lebanon and Syria on one track and the Palestinians on another. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has slipped down Bush's agenda as he has grappled with Iraq and confronted nuclear challenges from Iran and North Korea. Even last summer's Israel-Hezbollah war drew only a brief U.S. re-engagement.(Additional reporting by Sue Pleming)
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