Bush to Announce Plan for Palestinian State

June 14, 2002

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush has decided to lay out a proposal for Palestinian statehood to help contain Middle East violence and give some immediate hope to Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, a newspaper reported on Friday.

In a White House meeting Thursday with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, Bush indicated he had decided to propose the plan, probably next week, according to a New York Times report citing officials familiar with the talks.

The two men discussed how nations could grant legitimacy to a Palestinian state by recognizing it, the officials said.

The U.S. president did not provide all the details of his plan in the 20-minute meeting with the Saudi minister, but indicated it was designed to help quell violence and hold Palestinian leaders to a high standard of accountability, according to the officials.

The decision comes after much debate within the Bush administration over whether such a step could pacify the region. Bush adopted a two-state solution last year but has never said how or when Israel should end its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

The talks with Prince Saud included discussions on how to refer to the as-yet-undefined borders of a Palestinian state in any declaration, how to set a timeline for negotiations and how to arrange for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank so Palestinian institutions can be rebuilt, the newspaper said in an article on its Web site.

The Saudi minister told reporters, "I was very pleased with what I heard from the president" and said he would answer more questions on Friday.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/2002/06/14/usat-lede.htm