”Important progress” was made at a Middle East peace summit in Jordan on Wednesday, US President George Bush said, tasking a senior diplomat to monitor Israeli and Palestinian compliance to a peace roadmap.
He also instructed Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to make the quest for regional peace their ”highest priority”, while urging Israel and the Palestinians to stick to their word.
Bush, winding up his first personal foray into Middle East peacemaking two-and-half years into his presidency, compeered a summit between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas and his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon.
”We believe that with hard work and good faith and courage it is possible to bring peace to the Middle East,” Bush said.
”And today we mark important progress toward that goal.
”The journey we are taking is difficult, but there is no other choice. No leader of conscience can accept more months and years of killing, humiliation and mourning,” Bush said.
”These leaders of conscience have made their declarations today in the cause of peace. The United States is committed to that cause.
”If all sides fulfill their obligations, I know that peace can finally come,” said Bush, who on Tuesday took part in a summit with Arab leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Bush said he would send a team led by US State Department proliferation expert John Wolf to monitor implementation of the internationally-backed roadmap, which foresees a Palestinian state by 2005 and lays out steps to peace.
”We will place a mission on the ground led by Ambassador John Wolf,” Bush said.
”This mission will be charged with helping the parties to move towards peace, monitoring their progress and stating clearly who is fulfilling their responsibilities,” Bush said.
”We expect both parties to keep their promises.”
Wolf is a 33-year US State Department veteran who has served in Australia, Vietnam, Greece, and Pakistan and was US ambassador to Malaysia from 1992 to 1995; but has little Middle East experience.
”He’s certainly not the first guy you would think of for this job, but he will get the job done,” a US State Department official said.
The US president also said that Powell and Rice, the guardians of his foreign policy would ”work closely with the parties helping them to move towards true peace as quickly as possible”.
”I have also asked Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to make this cause of the highest priority”, he said. – Sapa-AFP