US Backs Idea of a Palestinian State

The United States supports the idea of a Palestinian state despite a vote by Israel's ruling Likud party effectively ruling one out, a US official said on Sunday.

Asked about the vote, which appeared to deal a major blow to Middle East peace, US National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack referred to US President George W. Bush's vision of Israel and a Palestinian state living in peace.

"That is his vision for the region and we will continue working toward that vision," McCormack said, declining further comment.

The Likud vote came at a heated party convention in Tel Aviv and marked a victory for former Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a looming battle for the party leadership.

Sharon had told the assembled party members Palestinians must end violence and reform their political structures before he would allow any talk of their establishing a state.

The party preferred the harder message delivered by Netanyahu, who vowed: "A state with all the rights of a state, this cannot be, not under (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat, nor under another leadership, not today, nor tomorrow."

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the vote endangered any hope of an agreement and said it would increase the frustrations of Palestinians locked in a violent 19-month-old struggle against Israeli rule.

"How many Palestinians will wake up tomorrow to say 'we have nothing to lose'?" he told CNN. "I hope it will be an eye-opener to President Bush."

After keeping the Middle East strife at an arm's length during much of his presidency, Bush last month reversed course and took a much more active role in seeking to end the violence and to nudge the parties toward negotiations.

In his April 4 speech laying out the change in policy, Bush said: "The outlines of a just settlement are clear: two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side, in peace and security."

(China Daily May 13, 2002)