(Reuters) - The Bush administration on Wednesday rejected Arafat's view that its Middle East "road map" peace plan is dead. "I believe the road map is the way forward....We got started on it and some progress is being made," said Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell blamed Palestinian militants for the slow progress in carrying out the peace plan. "We didn't deal with Yasser Arafat when we were putting the road map together so his comments don't mean a lot to me," Powell said. Meanwhile, at the Brookings Institution in Washington, former U.S. assistant secretary of state and ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said he thought the road map was finished. He said the Bush administration was disenchanted with Abbas, and may be unwilling to spend the political capital needed to revive the road map.
2003-09-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive