Britain hails peace progress in Mideast

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw welcomed the announcement made by Israel and Palestine Tuesday to end violence in the Mideast, saying the progress has put the Roadmap plan for peace "back on track".

At the Sharm el-Sheikh summit on Tuesday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reached agreement on a mutual ceasefire to put an end to more than four years of conflict.

"I know there have been plenty of dawns which have turned out to be false in the very tortured relationship between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but I think this is a new beginning," Straw told BBC Radio after Sharon and Abbas announced the historic ceasefire at the Egyptian Red Sea resort.

Straw said Tuesday's agreement effectively completes phase one of the Roadmap produced by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia in 2003, which set out steps towards an independent Palestinian state existing alongside a secure Israel by the end of 2005.

Straw, whose country will host an international conference on Palestinian reform in London on March 1, suggested further progress towards the final goal could now be expected.

"The Roadmap, according to the timescale set out in it, is now 20 months late, because phase one was supposed to be over by May 2003. I think it will go as fast as it can. No one can put a timescale on these things. There will be some difficulties on the way," the minister said.

"Our conference on March 1 in London...will be very important in enabling the Palestinians better to build the security force that they have to build and to take steps to reform their political institutions and get the economy going, particularly in Gaza as the Israelis withdraw," Straw said.

However, Straw added that the Palestinian leaders have told him that they "want to take it one step at a time and do not want to rush into final status talks unless these have been very well prepared in advance."

Source: Xinhua