BEIRUT -- Lebanon has rejected U.S. President George W. Bush's Middle East plan, saying Beirut backed international resolutions and the Arab peace initiative, the information minister said here Friday.

"The cabinet rejected the contents of the speech by President Bush and reaffirmed its attachment to the international resolutions," AFP quoted Ghazi Aridi as saying after the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri late Thursday.

Bush told the Palestinians in a speech on Monday they should replace their Leader Yasser Arafat and others "compromised by terrorism" in future elections as a condition for U.S. support for the creation of a Palestinian state.

The U.S. leader also urged Israel to eventually withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories and dismantle Israeli settlements, but laid most of the burden for Middle East peace at the feet of the Palestinians.