Palestinian state statelessness

More from the Background Noise President:

President George W. Bush yesterday backed away from the goal he set a year ago to help establish an independent Palestinian state by the end of his second term.

With Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president at his side at a White House press conference, Mr Bush said he could not tell when Israelis and Palestinians would live side by side in two democratic states, and denied he had expressed the hope of this happening by the end of 2008.

"So you said I would like to see two states before I get out of office. Not true," he told an Arab reporter. "I'd like to see two states. And if it happens before I get out of office, I'll be there to witness the ceremony. And if it doesn't, we will work hard to lay that foundation so that the process becomes irreversible."

In Washington last November, meeting Tony Blair, the UK prime minister who was in dire need of a diplomatic fillip to counter the fallout over Iraq, Mr Bush said he would "spend the capital" of the US on establishing a Palestinian state. "I'd like to see it done in four years," Mr Bush said. "I think it is possible."