New York - US President George W Bush on Tuesday urged the rest of the world to support democratic reforms in the Middle East during an address before the UN General Assembly.
Bush said after decades of trying to maintain the status quo in the Middle East it is no longer possible for the world to believe the region is stable.
'The reality is the stability we thought we saw in the Middle East was a mirage,' Bush said.
Bush said democratic progress was being made in countries like Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain and Yemen.
'Some of the changes in the Middle East are happening gradually, but they are real,' Bush said.
'These are important steps, and the governments should continue to move forward with other reforms that show they trust their people,' he added.
Bush's annual address at the opening of the General Assembly was dedicated to promoting his freedom agenda for the Middle East and urging others nations to adopt his policies aimed at giving hope to younger generations in order to prevent them from being persuaded by extremism.
'We know that when people have a voice in their future, they are less likely to blow themselves up in suicide attacks,' he said.
Bush strongly criticized Iran and Syria for repressing their citizens while fuelling instability and terrorism in the Middle East.
'To the people of Syria, your land is home to a great people with a proud tradition of learning and commerce,' Bush said. 'Today, your rulers have allowed your country to become a crossroad for terrorism.'
Bush warned Syria that it is becoming a 'tool of Iran' that is 'increasing your country's isolation from the world.'
In a message to the Iranian people, Bush said: 'The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons.'
Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Bush restated his vision for a Palestinian state co-existing peacefully with Israel and called on the Hamas-led government to meet international demands by recognizing Israel's right to exits, renounce violence and recognize previous peace agreements.
Bush also said the Palestinians have endured 'daily humiliation' because of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
'The Palestinian people have suffered from decades of corruption and violence and the daily humiliation of occupation,' Bush said.
But he also said terrorism must end for there to be a peaceful settlement.
'Israeli citizens have endured brutal acts of terrorism and constant fear of attack since the birth of their nation,' Bush said, blaming extremists for for 'stirring up hatred' to thwart the peace process.
'The world is waiting to see whether the Hamas government will follow through on its promises or pursue an extremist agenda,' Bush said.
Bush also warned that UN credibility will be harmed if it does not act to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region. He demanded the Sudanese government end its resistance and allow a UN deployment of peacekeeping troops to Darfur, but said the United Nations can still do so without Khartoum's approval.
'If the Sudanese government does not approve this peacekeeping force quickly, the United Nations must act,' Bush said. Sudanese 'lives and the credibility of the United Nations is at stake.'
Bush called the slaughter of civilians there 'genocide.'
The Security Council this summer adopted a resolution to transfer the African Union force in Darfur to a larger United Nations contingent in order to make the peacekeeping effort more effective, but the Sudanese government has rebuffed the force.
About 200,000 people have died in nearly three years of fighting in Darfur between government backed militias and rebels. More than one million people have been forced to flee.
Bush said he has appointed Andrew Natsios, the former head of the US Agency for International Development, as his special envoy to end the conflict in Darfur.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
