The United Nations released Wednesday the long-awaited "Road Map" plan for the Middle East, which was cosponsored by the United States, the European Union and Russia.

The performance-based and goal-driven "Road Map" made clear phases, timelines target dates and benchmarks aiming at progress through reciprocal steps by Israel and Palestine to achieve a "final and comprehensive" settlement of their conflicts by 2005.

"The Road Map's goal of two states, a secure and prosperous Israel and an independent, viable, sovereign and democratic Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security, must be the focus of our energies and efforts," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday in a statement issued in New York after the plan was formally unveiled.

"The Secretary-General wishes to assure both Israelis and Palestinians that the United Nations will do everything it can to support them, as they follow the Road Map," the statement said.

US President George W. Bush urged Wednesday Israelis and Palestinians to seize the opportunity created by the plan and return to a "path of peace."

"The Road Map represents a starting point toward achieving the vision of two states -- a secure state of Israel and a viable, peaceful democratic Palestine -- that I set out on June 24th, 2002.It is a framework for progress toward lasting peace and security in the Middle East," Bush said.

Russia hailed the release of the "Road Map" on Wednesday, saying that the plan is the best way to achieve peace in the Middle East, and can serve as a starting point in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and provide a framework for further peace efforts.

"Its realization requires that the conflicting parties accept the ideas set out in the document, show political will and strictly adhere to all their obligations," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, also welcomed the presentation of the plan to the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

European Commission President Romano Prodi said Wednesday in a statement that he welcomed the presentation "to the parties as a means to relaunch the (Mideast) peace process, and an important stabilizing factor for the entire region."

"The roadmap offers the best chance of achieving the vision of a two-state solution set out by (US) President (George W.) Bush last summer," Prodi said.

"This roadmap charts a course to a lasting settlement by 2005, and that would mean a secure state of Israel alongside a viable and separate state of Palestine," said British Foreign Minister Jack Straw, who called it an unprecedented opportunity to end indiscriminate violence in the region.

Straw urged Palestine and Israel "to work together to create a brighter future for the millions of Palestinians and Israelis who have had to live every day under the shadow of indiscriminate violence, as we were so terribly reminded earlier today."

Just before the peace plan was presented to Israel and Palestine, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a pub near the US embassy in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Wednesday morning, killing at least three people and injuring 35 others.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said on Wednesday that France will fully support the implementation of the "Road Map" peace plan, calling for solving the Arab-Israeli issue through comprehensive consultations.

The plan is extremely important to Europe and France because it came at a crucial moment in the Middle East, De Villepin said.

"For the first time since 1947, the international community has the same goal: a viable and sovereign Palestinian state, alongside a State of Israel whose existence is fully recognized and whose security is guaranteed," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2003)