Bush accused of adding fuel to Middle East fire

JERUSALEM – The Palestinian press accused US President George W. Bush yesterday of adding fuel to the fire of the Middle East conflict by capitulating to the demands of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at a White House summit.

“Bush has given Sharon everything that he wanted but he has certainly not demonstrated the even-handedness and impartiality that the peace process requires,” said an editorial in the top-selling Al-Quds daily. “This biased position will exacerbate an already explosive situation, not only between the Palestinians and Israelis but in the whole Middle East region,” the paper added.The Palestinians were enraged after Bush executed a major change in US policy Wednesday and declared Israel could keep parts of the territory it captured and then settled after the 1967 Six Day War with the Arabs.Rubbing salt into their wounds, Bush said after talks with Sharon at the White House that Palestinian refugees must settle in an eventual Palestinian state, essentially ruling out their right of return to lands lost to Israel when it was created in 1948.The paper accused Bush of caving into Sharon to ensure the support of Jewish voters in November’s presidential elections.”These declarations are aimed at serving the electoral campaign of Bush but he is far from being assured of securing the Jewish vote, as it is traditionally divided between the two main (Republican and Democratic) parties,” it said.Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the official paper of the Palestinian Authority, said Bush had torpedoed the internationally drafted peace roadmap, which envisages the creation of a Palestinian state next year, the paper added.”Bush is without doubt the first leader in the world to deliver the coup de grace to to a plan that he himself has drawn up,” the paper said.- Nampa-AFP”This biased position will exacerbate an already explosive situation, not only between the Palestinians and Israelis but in the whole Middle East region,” the paper added.The Palestinians were enraged after Bush executed a major change in US policy Wednesday and declared Israel could keep parts of the territory it captured and then settled after the 1967 Six Day War with the Arabs.Rubbing salt into their wounds, Bush said after talks with Sharon at the White House that Palestinian refugees must settle in an eventual Palestinian state, essentially ruling out their right of return to lands lost to Israel when it was created in 1948.The paper accused Bush of caving into Sharon to ensure the support of Jewish voters in November’s presidential elections.”These declarations are aimed at serving the electoral campaign of Bush but he is far from being assured of securing the Jewish vote, as it is traditionally divided between the two main (Republican and Democratic) parties,” it said.Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the official paper of the Palestinian Authority, said Bush had torpedoed the internationally drafted peace roadmap, which envisages the creation of a Palestinian state next year, the paper added.”Bush is without doubt the first leader in the world to deliver the coup de grace to to a plan that he himself has drawn up,” the paper said.- Nampa-AFP