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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Bush unsure Palestinians will have state before 2009
2005-10-21
He used to think they might have one by 2005...
US PRESIDENT GEORGE W. Bush said Thursday that he was not sure that the Palestinians would have an independent state before he leaves office in January 2009. After talks at the White House with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Bush praised his guest and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as "partners in peace" and repeated his backing for creating a Palestinian state.

"I believe that two democratic states living side by side in peace is possible. I can't tell you when it's going to happen. It's happening," Bush said during a joint appearance with Abbas in the White House Rose Garden.

"If it happens before I get out of office, I'll be there to witness the ceremony. And if doesn't, we will work hard to lay that foundation so that the process becomes irreversible," the US president told reporters.

"I'm a heck of a lot more confident today than when I was when I first came into office," said Bush, who coupled praise for Abbas' efforts to crack down on anti-Israel violence with a call to do more against "armed gangs."

"The way forward must begin by confronting the threat that armed gangs pose to a genuinely democratic Palestine" as well as "to lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians," said the US president.
Posted by:Fred

#8  US PRESIDENT GEORGE W. Bush said Thursday that he was not sure that the Palestinians would have an independent state before he leaves office in January 2009.

Oh come on!. This is GWB here. Read what he says and work from there (I believe this only works with foreign policy ;) Basically, the Paleos are not going to get their 'state' whilst GWB is in office. End of Story.

What happens after that is something else entirely.
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2005-10-21 17:32  

#7  US PRESIDENT GEORGE W. Bush said Thursday that he was not sure that the Palestinians would have an independent state before he leaves office in January 2009.

Why should he care? There are other more important and pressing matters that need addressing. The time for more focus on this is when and if Mazen decides to do something decisive about terrorists on his soil besides "co-opting" them. Until then, it's not even worth a passing thought.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-10-21 14:28  

#6  Oops! Lots of typos but I meant the Israelis should stay where they are as the Palestinians are full of it!
Posted by: Danielle   2005-10-21 13:27  

#5  The Roadmap is flawed to begin with so as long as the violence continues, the Israelis can stay where think a Paleo state can be formed in pockets in the midst of Israel. The Palestinians will not listen to reason or any other ideas. The new BAR has some articles about the homeland of the Philistines (Palestine is a translation error on old Roman maps)and they have Gaza, Sidon, Tyre, Edom (Jordan), towns in Syria and even Ur in Iraq, as they were also dispersed by the Assyrians. The Ten Tribes of Israel occupied the West Bank and they should not have to leave. Christians would have more claim to the Galilee than they do! Maybe doing DNA tests and tracing ancient ancestral tribes would settle this issue. Science is more definitive than the rewritten history they try to push as fact.
Posted by: Danielle   2005-10-21 13:24  

#4  Someone who looks to the Paleos to provide a "legacy" is seriously dellusional. Anyone who thinks someone needs such a legacy is seriously stupid.
Posted by: john   2005-10-21 08:29  

#3  As for CLINTON, methinks it can be safely said that Darth Bill wilfully destroyed any US-specific legacy he and the Dems, or even Hillary, could hope to claim from the 1990's in favor of discrediting America for OWG and Global "Liberalism" - eeeerrrr, Global Socialism-Communism-Totalitarianism. Iff anything, Darth Stainous/Seminous own PC wafflins' and dissins' of America, his own Party, and the NPE, etc. only proves 9-11 and the WOT was preplanned for years, and that Hillary the Dems acting like RINO's. Democratists-in-Name-Only, and "Good Conservatives" is a temp, PC, MSM facade for disguising the fact that America is actually in WW3 ags Russia-China.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2005-10-21 00:37  

#2  The Pales. and its PA are still focusing on getting concessions from Israel, as opposed to controlling Radic groups such as Hamas or Hezbollah/Hizbollah, etc. and getting them or forcing them to acknowledge Israel's right to exist. ISRAEL in reality is the Pales. best hope for any Pales.-specific national development as other regional Muslim govts don't care too much for the Pales. or their agenda. As long as bloody pro-Pales., anti-Israeli violence keeps occurring, neither Tel Aviv andor the IDF has any reason to respect the demands of the PA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2005-10-21 00:28  

#1  he doesn't need the "Legacy™" like Clinton did. His changes are real, not faux, like a Nobel Peace Prize accomplishment. W will be acknowledged long after his presidency for a ground-shift in the US's dealings with the rest of the world. Some may not like the pace, but can you say any previous prez did more? He's not done yet, IMHO
Posted by: Frank G   2005-10-21 00:09  

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