BRUSSELS, Feb 21 (AFP) - The US and Europe share the "immediate goal" of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, US President George W. Bush said Monday, urging all Arab countries to help in bringing peace to the region.
"America and Europe have made a moral commitment: We will not stand by as another generation in the Holy Land grows up in an atmosphere of violence and hopelessness," Bush said in a keynote speech in Brussels.
"America and Europe also share a strategic interest: by helping to build a lasting peace, we will remove an unsettled grievance that is used to stir hatred and violence across the Middle East," Bush said at the start of a three-nation European tour.
The US vision was to see two states living side-by-side, Bush said, pledging to help the Palestinian Authority build economic, political and security institutions needed to govern.
"The Palestinian people deserve a government that is representative, honest and peaceful," he said. "The people of Israel need an end to terror and a reliable, steadfast partner for peace.
"And the world must not rest until there is a just and lasting resolution of this conflict."
He urged all the countries in the region to play their part in helping to ease tensions and build on moves to relaunch the Middle East peace process given fresh impetus since the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
"Arab states must end incitement in their own media, cut off public and private funding for terrorism, stop their support for extremist education, and establish normal relations with Israel," Bush said.
"A successful Palestinian democracy should be Israel's top goal as well. So Israel must freeze settlement activity, help Palestinians build a thriving economy, and ensure that a new Palestinian state is truly viable."
He confirmed that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would be attending a Middle East conference to be hosted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London next month, and he called on new Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to seize the chance offered.
"President Abbas has the opportunity to put forward a strategy of reform, which can and will gain financial support from the international community -- including financial support. I hope he will seize the moment."
The move towards peace in the Middle East would bolster security around the world, Bush said.
"In the long run, we cannot live in peace and safety if the Middle East continues to produce ideologies of murder, and terrorists who seek the deadliest weapons."
"A status quo of tyranny and hopelessness in the Middle East -- the false stability of dictatorship and stagnation -- can only lead to deeper resentment in a troubled region, and further tragedy in free nations."
02/21/2005 15:03 GMT - AFP