Terror attacks halted Bush plan to push for Palestinian state

President Bush planned to press for the creation of a Palestinian state last month but the terror attacks in New York and Washington put the move on the back burner, a senior US official said.

He said the idea of a Palestinian state has always been part of the peace process ‘‘so long as the right to an Israeli state is respected.’’

The attacks sidetracked an initiative by the Bush administration to launch Israel and the Palestinians into a new peacemaking process that only now is beginning to take shape again.

It was understood by Israel as well as the Palestinians that the outcome, if successful, would include creation of a Palestinian state, the official said.

Bush addressed the issue after a meeting with congressional leaders today.

‘‘The idea of a Palestinian state has always been a part of a vision so long as the right to an Israeli state is respected,’’ he said.

But first there would have to be a reduction in the level of violence that has wracked the region this year, the president added.

The administration planned to make its efforts public at the special session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24.

The resumption of high-level talks between Israel and the Palestinians last week, arranged through persistent urging by Secretary of State Colin Powell, has revived momentum to the US drive, the official said.

In the weeks leading up to the scheduled UN session, Powell had quietly begun pressing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to reopen peace talks that broke down at the end of the Clinton administration.

The White House had hoped that its high-profile intervention timed to the UN meeting would serve as a response to worldwide complaints that the United States was detached from the Arab-Israeli conflict and had lost interest in the peacemaking process.

By using the General Assembly session to disclose newly energized US interest, administration officials hoped to attract support for its new major push in the region.

The Bush administration’s quiet approach stands in sharp contrast to the Clinton administration’s prolonged public campaign to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the United States providing its own blueprint for an overall accord.

However, by declaring its intentions publicly, the Bush administration would have taken on a role more like that of its predecessor. In fact, Powell said last week that as Israel and the Palestinians accelerate their meetings, the United States would become progressively more involved.

At the UN meeting, which was postponed indefinitely, the Bush administration had planned to outline its overall view of a final settlement, including important questions about borders, the right of Palestinians refugees to return to Israel and possibly the future of Jerusalem.