Bush ‘Palestine’ reference noted

Anne E. Kornblut, The Boston Globe

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A12 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2001 • THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS NATION/WORLD Bush 'Palestine' reference noted • In a significant shift, the president and Secretary of State Colin Powell both mention the likely name of a future Palestinian state. Anne E.

Kornblut The Boston Globe NEW YORK - As President Bush paid tribute at the World Trade Center site on the two- month anniversary of its destruc tion, administration officials held intense closed-door meetings on the Middle East on Sunday and said Bush purposely used the name "Palestine" for the first time to spur peace talks.

Bush returned to Washington on Sunday night without meeting Palestinian chairman Yasser Ar- afat at the United Nations, a snub that offended some Arab allies and dampened White House ef- forts to breathe life into the inber- national coalition against terror- ism.

But Secretary of State Colin Powell did see Arafat, and re ported Sunday night that he saw a "new urgency" in the Palestinian leader about reaching a resolu- tion. In a significant shift in State Department protocol, Powell also said it is now "appropriate" to call a future Palestinian state by its likely name, Palestine.

During another critical session, Powell discussed nuclear weap- ons reductions and missile de- fense with Russian Foreign Minis- ter Igor Ivanov, laying the groundwork for a potential arms agreement when Bush and Rus- SIan President Vladimir Putin meet in Washington and Texas aruin has expressed increasing confidence the United States and Russia can resolve differences about the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Mis- sile Treaty, which Bush would abrogate to test and build a U.S. missile shield.

Both leaders have suggested they would cut their nuclear arsenals by as much as two-thirds, a desirable move for Russia, which can barely afford to maintain its stock.

After a day of back-bo-back meetings with top officials from nearly a dozen key countries - including Israel, Syria, Saudi Ara- bia, and Russia as well as the Pal- AP PHOTO Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, left, greets Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday in New York. estinians - Powell offered a cau- tiously optimistic assessment about his progress, especially in the Middle East.

"Both sides realize we cannot continue as we have in recent months. "Powell told reporters. Powell also signaled a signifi- cant shift in U.S. policy.

Though he denied accusations that he and Bush are not engaged enough with the Middle East, Powell said they plan to launch a new, visible campaign in the com- ing "days and weeks ahead." But the most striking change seemed to revolve around the word Palestine.

Powell said the switch to using the official name - especially in Bush's speech at the U.N. on Saturday - was meant to send "a powerful signal" to both sides that the United States wants to move more bead- ily toward an independent state. "It's appropriate ... as we start to reach more aggressively to- ward that vision, to call those two states what they will be: Israel.

Palestine," Powell said.

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"Bush ‘Palestine’ reference noted," The Grand Rapids Press, 12 November 2001. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2001-022. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2001-022

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When American papers started saying Palestinian