AP  
President George W. Bush  
Tuesday, June 25, 2002

WASHINGTON — Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is responding cautiously to President Bush's proposal for a provisional Palestinian state ruled by a "new and different Palestinian leadership."


Arafat said that only the Palestinian people can decide whom their leaders should be, but added that the speech represented "a serious effort to push the peace process forward."

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said it found many favorable elements in the president's speech, adding that "genuine reforms and a new leadership" could clear the way to a diplomatic settlement.

On Monday, Bush told the Palestinian people that the United States could help them achieve the goal of statehood in three years if they elect "leaders not compromised by terror."

"It is untenable for Israeli citizens to live in terror. It is untenable for Palestinians to live in squalor and occupation. And the current situation offers no prospect that life will improve," Bush said in a Rose Garden speech, surrounded by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership so that a Palestinian state can be born," Bush said.

In his long-anticipated speech, Bush said "reform must be more than cosmetic changes or a veiled attempt to preserve the status quo" if the Palestinians are to fulfill their aspirations for a state alongside Israel.

R-Inhoff,Oklahoma said this morning that he thinks this is president Bush's last attempt at making peace. He says if this is rejected then the Palestinians are on their own and that Bush will not likely intervene in Israelies attempts to take care of the problem any longer.

Is Bush making his last offer???

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[b]I later heard something about Palestine may have already said no to Bush's proposal[/b]
Thats a fact!

The Palestinian leadership and President Arafat hope that the details will be discussed during the direct and bilateral meetings with the American administration" and international mediators, the statement said.

Israeli Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin said Israel was pleased with the speech but rejected the concept of a provisional Palestinian state. He said Bush expressed a "vision of bringing the Palestinian people to democracy and reform, and then to negotiate."

Rivlin, a close ally of Sharon, said that according to the Bush formula, the first steps are up to the Palestinians to reform their administration and "get rid of all those terrorists who live there."

Though the Palestinians insisted the choice of leadership is their own to make and not up to the United States, Palestinian officials took heart in Bush's saying that ending Israeli occupation is the only way to achieve peace.

"It is the first time that an American administration recognized that the only solution for this conflict is to end the occupation and to have a state to live in peace beside Israel – this is a historic change in the American stance," said Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman.

In his speech, Bush demanded Israel withdraw to positions it held on the West Bank two years ago and to stop building homes for Jews on the West Bank and in Gaza. Ultimately, he said, Israel should agree to pull all the way back to the lines it held before the 1967 Mideast war.

Erekat said the situation today is at its lowest point. "What we need is a real specified road map that will define the endgame of the peace process, that is ending the Israeli occupation," he said.

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Its now time to move on and deal with Iraq.