International

Bush under pressure to delay move

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington JUNE 22. The President, George W. Bush, is coming under intense pressure from Conservatives and leading Democrats on Capitol Hill to delay his proposal for the proclamation of an interim Palestinian state against the backdrop of the ongoing violence.

The Democratic Leader in the House of Representatives, Richard Gephardt, appealed to the President to delay his announcement because of the continuing "barbaric suicide attacks'' against the Israelis and argued that any announcement was not going to alter the scheme of things. "It is fine to set out the dream and the goal and to hope that will give people on the Palestinian side some hope. But it isn't going to change anything in my view'', Mr. Gephardt remarked.

It appeared this week that Mr. Bush was all set to make his major announcement on West Asia, but at the same time indications were that his major advisers were still debating the finer points of the plan.

On Friday, the President met the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and the National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice. Mr. Bush is expected to remain at the White House over the weekend spending time on the subject.

Mr. Bush, his advisers say, remains committed to an interim or provisional Palestinian state which will eventually develop into a full-fledged state that will live side by side with Israel in peace. Unnamed officials have been quoted as saying that some "marginal'' issues were to be worked out but that the President's basic idea was not open to major alterations. "There are still discussions going on'', remarked the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher. "This is an evolving process but the President has indeed reached some conclusions'', he said.

One view is that the administration is coming under pressure from conservatives within and from the outside on why the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, had to be given anything at all given what has been taking place. The timing of Mr. Bush's announcement has itself become a subject of intense speculation. The spate of attacks against Israel and the response of the Jewish state in the last few days have pushed back the plan; and now it is not clear if Mr. Bush will be going ahead with his announcement sometime next week. About the only thing that the White House will say is that the media need not expect anything over the weekend. "I'll give the speech when I'm ready to give the speech'', remarked Mr. Bush to reporters in Florida.

Condemning the latest series of attacks, the President stressed that Israel had the right to defend itself.

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