'The armed intefada must end and we must use and resort to peaceful means in our quest to end the occupation and suffering of Palestinians and Israelis,' he said.
Joining Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon at a podium, Mr Bush praised the Israeli leader's willingness to dismantle the settlements and lauded Mr Abbas for promising 'his full efforts to end the full intefada'.
Prior to the first
intefada many thousands of Palestinians were welcomed as workers in many industries in Israel, construction and farming to mention but two.
The Israelis and Arabs lived in peace for 33 years until Arafat started his
intefada. Barak, as Prime Minister of Israel, gave the Arabs almost everything they wanted, including sovereignty of the Temple Mount, but Arafat came up with the return of the so-called 'refugees', people who had been deliberately kept in squalor and fed with hatred of Israel since 1948.
This chasm widened a hundred fold with the two
Intefadas, the four-year-long Bosnian war, 9/11, air strikes and occupation of Afghanistan, the bogus search for weapons of mass destruction leading to the occupation of Iraq, destruction of Mesopotamia and so on.