Yellow Light For Mideast Road Map

President Bush on Friday said his administration could soon propose its long-anticipated new "road map" for Middle East peace — if the Palestinian authority confirms a prime minister with adequate powers.

"We expect that such a Palestinian prime minister will be confirmed soon," the president said during a brief Rose Garden appearance. "Immediately upon confirmation, the roadmap for peace will be given to the Palestinians and Israel."

Secretary of State Colin Powell was at Mr. Bush's side, but made no remarks. Neither man took questions.

The announcement came amid feverish diplomacy aimed at getting Security Council approval for war against Iraq — a prospect that looked unlikely based on the latest vote counts.

In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair linked the timing of the announcement to the steps toward war with Iraq. "I think it is precisely now when we do have all this focus on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and Saddam and all the things that he has done … that we say to the Arab and Muslim world, we accept the obligation of evenhandedness," said the British prime minister.

Earlier Friday, the White House announced that the president would meet his British and Spanish counterparts in a summit this weekend for a last-ditch attempt at gaining U.N. authorization.

In his appearance Friday, the president made no mention of the summit or the situation in Iraq. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is seen as an obstacle to building a coalition for war, because many Arab countries and European citizens see the United States either as too close to Israel, or divorced from the process entirely.

In his remarks Friday, the president offered no new proposals. But he suggested that recent moves made by the Palestinians had set the stage for his plan.

"We have reached a hopeful moment for progress toward the vision of Middle East peace that I outlined last June," Mr. Bush said. "We spoke of a day when two states — Israel and Palestine — will live side by side in peace and security."

He added: "The time has come to move beyond entrenched positions and to take concrete actions to achieve peace. America is committed, and I am personally committed, to implementing our road map toward peace."

Mr. Bush reiterated the steps he outlined then: Palestinians must abandon terrorism, after which Israel has to "take concrete steps toward the creation of a viable Palestinian state," and end settlement construction. Arab states have to end support for terrorism.

The "road map" aims to create a Palestinian state by the year 2005, carved out of land that Israel has held for more than 35 years. But the president's earlier version was deemed too vague to be of practical use.

On Friday, he claimed a more detailed list had been developed by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — the so-called "Quartet" working to end the conflict in the region.
The president also called in June, and again Friday, for reforms in Yasser Arafat's administration.

"We believe that all people in the Middle East, Palestinians and Israelis alike, deserve to live in dignity under free and honest governments," he said, a veiled reference to allegations that Arafat's regime is corrupt. "We believe that people that live in freedom are more like to reject bitterness, blind hatred and terrorism."

He has demanded democratic changes within the Palestinian movement, free elections and the removal of Arafat, the Palestinians' longtime leader. The president has refused to meet Arafat since coming to office.

Arafat recently appointed a long-time rival — and peace process supporter — as prime minister. Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat's deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organization, has criticized the recent uprising.

But Arafat then drew criticism for then vowing to retain control over peace talks and security issues, rather than handing them off.

Mr. Bush's statement Friday seemed to warn that the U.S. would probably oppose that. However, the president did not specify what powers the new prime minister needed to have.

Senior Palestinian officials said the president's statement on Palestinian statehood fell short of expectations, noting that the president asked for further debate on the plan instead of announcing the start of its implementation.

"We appreciate the Bush speech and his commitment to the road map," Nabil Abu Rdeneh, the Palestinian minister of information, said. "But what is needed now is immediate implementation of the road map without any changes."

Foreign diplomats in the region also expressed surprise that Washington felt the need for further consultations on the plan.

Meanwhile, violence continued in the occupied territories. Israeli forces in the West Bank killed at least 10 Palestinian militants from violent Islamic groups in two separate nighttime raids, including one in the battle-scarred Jenin refugee camp.

Backed by helicopter gunships and tanks, Israeli troops on Friday killed at least five gunmen in a house used as a hideout by members of the Islamic Jihad in the impoverished shantytown. The army said a sixth person was killed, but Palestinians said the man was wounded and escaped.

About 10 tanks and armored personnel carriers moved into the camp at the northern edge of the West Bank before dawn and surrounded the house. Palestinians fired from the roof of the house and from an adjacent alley, the army said. Troops returned fire, killing the men.

The militants used the house as a guard post and sleeping quarters. They had just gone to bed when Israeli forces surrounded them, said a local Islamic Jihad leader, Sheik Bassam Saedi.