Prime Minister Sharon's staffers dismissed a call by British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the establishment of a Palestinian state on all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza by the end of the year. They say that Blair was merely trying to appease the Arab world in anticipation of an attack on Iraq. Israel has not officially ruled out a Palestinian state, however, and is still willing to abide by U.S. President George Bush's major speech of June 24 in which he called for one.