U.S. President George W. Bush included the Palestinian Israeli conflict in his speech about the U.S. war on terrorism Wednesday.
"All parties have a choice to make," Bush said. "Every leader, every state, must choose between two paths: the path of peace or the path of terror."
Bush called on the Palestinian Authority to renounce terrorism and on Israel to pull out of Palestinian territory in the West Bank. "All parties must say clearly that a murderer is not a martyr; he or she is just a murderer," he said.
Bush said US Secretary of State Colin Powell did make progress towards peace in his recent Middle East tour.
Israel had to continue its troop withdrawal from Palestinian areas, he stated. Bush also called on Arab states to stop funding and inciting terror.
It is not enough for America to win the war on terrorism, the country must help secure the peace, President Bush said.
He conveyed the war against terrorism will be long, and it will not be enough just to make the world safer. "We must also work to make the world better," he said.
He said the United States recently apprehended Abu Zubaydah -- a top-ranking al Qaeda operative. "He's not plotting and he's not planning anymore," Bush said. "He's under lock and key, and we're going to give him some company."
Bush also traced the road ahead in the war on terrorism. "We must prevent al Qaeda from moving its operations to other countries," he said. "We must deny terrorists the funds they need to operate. We must deny them safe havens to plan new horrors and indoctrinate new recruits."
Bush said the United States is working with Yemen to prevent terrorist from regrouping there. U.S. service members are training Philippine soldiers to combat terrorism in that country.
After the speech, Bush was scheduled to return to the White House to meet with Lebanon's prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, on ways to keep skirmishes along Lebanon's southern border with Israel from merging with the West Bank bloodshed into a wider Arab-Israeli conflict. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
