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Bush: Mideast could be at 'hopeful moment'

Bush: Mideast could be at 'hopeful moment'


CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- The Middle East could be at "a hopeful moment" that could at last lead to peace, President Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address, but only if "acts of leadership, not acts of terror" prevail.

Both sides must take concrete steps, the president said, to reach a settlement in the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Bush again noted "Israel's right to defend itself," but said he'd asked "Israel to halt incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas and begin withdrawing from those cities it has recently occupied."

And he said he'd "called upon the Palestinian leadership to order an immediate and effective cease-fire, and a crackdown on terrorist networks."

While the United States is committed to a settlement that includes "two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," Bush said, "the very possibility of an independent Palestinian state" is jeopardized by suicide bombings.

"I have no illusions about the difficulty of this mission," he said. "Yet, our determination is strong."

The president said that much of his planned meeting at his Crawford, Texas, ranch this weekend with British Prime Minister Tony Blair would concern the Middle East, and that both countries and other allies would be working closely to achieve the goal of peace.

"I believe the region could write a new story of democracy and development and trade, and join the progress of our times," he said. "Yet, progress requires an atmosphere of peace, and peace requires acts of leadership, not acts of terror."



 
 
 
 







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