Bush vows support for Palestinian State

US President George W Bush yesterday stressed his commitment to a separate Palestinian state.

"No president has ever said that," Mr Bush told the BBC1 Breakfast with Frost programme, "I said it, and I said it with conviction, because I believe it is in Israel's interest that there be a peaceful Palestinian state. And I know it's in the Palestinians' interest.

"However, to achieve a peaceful Palestinian state, the emergence of a peaceful Palestinian state, a state where people are willing to risk capital, a place where people are willing to develop an economy, there must be a focused effort to defeat terror. And there hasn't been with the current Palestinian leadership."