Joint Statement by President George W. Bush and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on the Middle East

We express our deep concern over the situation in the Middle East, which has led to untold suffering by Palestinians and Israelis during the past year. The violence and terror must end.

The United States and Russia, as cosponsors of the Middle East peace process, call upon the leadership of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to take urgent steps to ease tension, as well as to refrain from actions that are harmful to the other side and to resume the dialogue at a high political level. It is also necessary to proceed without delay towards the implementation of the Tenet workplan and the Mitchell Report recommendations: to end the violence, to set up stable cooperation in the area of security, to implement confidence-building measures, and to resume the substantive negotiating process.

Our two nations, acting in concert with other key parties, are stepping up their efforts aimed at facilitating early resolution of the crisis in the region and resuming negotiations on all tracks—Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese—in the interests of making progress toward a comprehensive settlement in the Middle East, based on the Madrid principles, UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, and existing agreements and accords.