United Nations, March 30, SPA -- United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday said the “ambitious goal” of an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel by the end of 2008 is achievable. “At Annapolis [the U.S.-led Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland], the international community bore witness and expressed its support as Israeli and Palestinian leaders set themselves the target of reaching an agreement by the end of the year,” Ban said in the monthly briefing on the Middle East. “It is my hope that we can achieve this ambitious goal,” he added. Ban said he was committed to “an end to the occupation that began in 1967, based on the foundations of the Madrid Conference, the principle of land for peace, Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 1397, and 1515, and the Arab Peace Initiative.”--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/539978