Is Bush getting serious about the peace process?

Is Bush getting serious about the peace process? - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune: "For the most part, both supporters and detractors of President George W. Bush's handling of the Middle East peace process missed the significant change in U.S. policy - at least on the rhetorical level - expressed by Bush when he met with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, at the White House on May 26.

In a press conference, Bush declared that it is U.S. policy that permanent-status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians must begin at the 1949 armistice line, popularly referred to as the pre-1967 border or the Green Line. He stated explicitly that no changes can be made in this border without Palestinian agreement. 'This is the position of the United States today, and it will be the position of the United States at the time of final status negotiations,' he said.

Bush also called on Israel 'not to undertake activities that contravene road map obligations or prejudice final status negotiations.' It was the first time that he applied that stricture specifically to Jerusalem, where Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is doing his best to preclude the possibility that any part of the city will belong to a future Palestinian state.
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