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| By Associated Press February 21, 2005 |
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US President George W. Bush pledged support Monday for Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and for Palestinian reform, which he said would give momentum to changes throughout the Middle East.
"Our greatest opportunity, and our immediate goal, is peace in the Middle East," Bush said on the first day of a fence-mending trip to Europe.
Bush devoted much of his speech to the Middle East and the improved prospects for peace with the new Palestinian leadership that took over after the death of Yasser Arafat in November.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has "an opportunity to put together a strategy of reform," Bush said. "I hope he will seize the moment."
Peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on a two-state solution was now within reach, Bush said. But he underscored that Israel must end settlement activity, that the future Palestine must be a democracy, and that Palestinian territory in the West Bank must be "contiguous ... a state on scattered territories will not work."
The US leader said he would send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to an international conference in London March 1 designed to help the Palestinian authority reform its finances and security system.
But he cautioned that reforms cannot happen all at once.
"We seek peace between Israel and Palestine for its own sake," said Bush. "We also know that a free and peaceful Palestine can add to the momentum of reform throughout the broader Middle East."
Bush pledged to "raise the flag of a free Palestine," and said: "The world must not rest until there is a just and lasting resolution to this conflict."
He also issued a strong warning to Syria, which he said "must end" its three-decade occupation of Lebanon.
Bush also said Iran "must not develop nuclear weapons," noting diplomatic efforts to prevent this - led by several European nations - were continuing.
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