US Pledges to Continue Mideast Peace Efforts
State Department
12 August 2003

Secretary of State Colin Powell says the Bush administration will not let Tuesday's twin suicide bombings halt efforts to implement the "road map" to an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. The attacks came as a senior U.S. envoy was holding talks with the Middle East parties.

U.S. Middle East diplomacy has been complicated not only by Tuesday's bombings but the upsurge in violence along the Israeli-Lebanese border. But in comments here to Israeli and Palestinian students of the "Seeds of Peace" group, Mr. Powell said the "road map" has not been derailed and said the Bush administration will do everything it can to see the peace plan fulfilled.

"I am committed to success," stressed the secretary of state. "I am committed to do every thing we can. President Bush, with all his heart and all his soul, is committed to do everything he can to make the region you represent a place of peace and not a place of war."

The suicide attacks - the first against Israeli targets in more than a month - came as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns was meeting senior Israeli and Palestinian officials on a mission that will take him to Jordan Wednesday.