Bush Restates Position on Mideast Peace

Seeking to reassure an Arab world jolted by statements he made last month on the future of the West Bank and Palestinians’ “right of return,” President Bush on Thursday reaffirmed the traditional U.S. position that any peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians would have to result from negotiations.

Bush said he would lay out his vision of a “just peace” in a letter to Palestinians, a gesture that could help counter the impression among Arab leaders that the U.S. had prejudged the final outcome of Mideast peace negotiations and had abandoned its role as an impartial broker.

The president spoke about the peace process during an appearance with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in the White House Rose Garden after the two leaders met privately for 45 minutes.

Their meeting came three weeks after Bush caused a furor in the Arab world by recognizing Israeli territorial claims to major parts of the West Bank and by supporting Israel’s position that Palestinians should not expect to return to former family homes in Israel. Bush’s endorsements, which marked a major shift in U.S. policy, were linked to a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and to evacuate four West Bank settlements.

With Abdullah at his side, Bush on Thursday restated his support for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Bush did not mention his previous endorsement of Israeli territorial claims or the denial of a “right of return” for Palestinians.

Instead, the president said that “all final-status issues must be negotiated between the parties.” The United States, Bush said, “will not prejudice the outcome of those negotiations.”

“I am encouraged by what I’ve heard from you today, sir,” Abdullah said, “that these issues are not to be prejudiced, and should be mutually agreed by the parties.”

Bush said he told Abdullah that he would explain his views on peace in a letter to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Korei. He also said that the administration would “expand dialogue between the United States and the Palestinians.”

Bush said the “road map” -- a step-by-step plan for establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel endorsed by the U.S., the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- remains “the best path to realizing the two-state vision.... That’s why my administration is committed to making it a reality.”

Bush did not promise that Palestinians would be compensated if they were not allowed to return to homes they lost when the Jewish state was created in 1948 or when the West Bank was seized in the 1967 Middle East War -- a commitment Abdullah had sought in negotiations before the Thursday meeting, U.S. officials said.

A White House official said the president was unable to speak about such compensation “because that would prejudice the final-status negotiations.” He said Bush’s assurances to the Israelis on the issues of Jewish settlements and Palestinians’ right of return were different because they were already “realities on the ground,” while compensation was not.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity, a second U.S. official said that there had been “tough negotiations” within the administration over how far Bush should go toward meeting Abdullah’s need to be seen as having championed the Palestinian cause during his meeting with the president.

Abdullah is one of the closest U.S. allies in the region and the monarch of a nation that has a Palestinian majority and a common border with Iraq. He has been feeling the heat of anti-American sentiment among his citizens, which has arisen from the U.S. occupation of Iraq and U.S. support for Sharon.

The king postponed a planned visit with Bush last month to protest the president’s agreement with Sharon.

“We feel that any unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the West Bank should be part of the road map, and should lead to the achievement of your vision of a two-state solution,” Abdullah said as he stood beside Bush in the Rose Garden. “A viable, sovereign and independent Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders is also in Jordan’s national interest.”