Washington – President Bush praised Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ steps to end violence and reform his government and predicted today that Palestinians will reject candidates of the militant group Hamas in upcoming parliamentary elections.
Bush, bringing the Palestinian’s top leader to the White House for the first time in his presidency, was looking for a way to boost Abbas. The Palestinian leader, the first democratically elected head of the Palestinian Authority, is seen by Bush as someone he can work with – unlike the late Yasser Arafat – but Abbas faces a threat from Hamas in the pending elections.
Abbas, at Bush’s side in the Rose Garden, said that U.S. help – now – is crucial to ending long-running Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
“Time is becoming our greatest enemy,” he said. “We should end this conflict before it is too late.” In return, Bush offered the struggling Palestinian leader wide-ranging support on nearly all the issues important to Palestinians.
“You have made a new start on a difficult journey, requiring courage and leadership each day,” Bush said. “And we will take that journey together.”
Bush announced that the United States will give $50 million directly to the Palestinian Authority for housing and other infrastructure projects intended to improve Palestinian lives once Israel completes its plan to withdraw settlements from Gaza and the West Bank this summer. The vast majority of U.S. aid to the Palestinians has been channeled through third parties, and the new infusion directly to the authority was meant as a show of confidence in Abbas’ leadership.
Though Israel has refused to return to the negotiating table with the Palestinians until Abbas does more to rein in terrorist groups, Bush had nothing but praise – at least publicly – for Abbas’ efforts to reduce violence. He did not directly push Abbas to disarm militants. Abbas has tended to choose compromise with militants over confrontation.
“The United States and the international community applaud your rejection of terrorism,” Bush said.
Bush gave Abbas another carrot by saying that the borders of a future Palestinian state – including the fate of Jerusalem – must be decided only through negotiation with Israel, and should not be different from the borders before Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Middle East unless both sides agree.
When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met with Bush at the president’s Texas ranch last month, Bush said it would be unrealistic to expect a pullback to the pre-1967 borders.
Bush also said there should be “meaningful linkages” for Palestinians between West Bank and Gaza. And he warned Israel not to take steps that defy the obligations outlined in the internationally backed “road map” peace plan, such as expanding settlements.
The president noted that Palestinian voters already voiced their preference for leaders who promise an end to violence when they overwhelmingly elected Abbas.
“I think Palestinian moms want their children to grow up in peace just like American moms want their children to grow up in peace,” Bush said.
For his part, Abbas touted progress under his leadership on reform of Palestinian security forces and democratic changes and said that his efforts have reduced violence to its lowest level in four years. The next steps, he said, should be an end to all Jewish settlement activities and a return to the road map process.
Abbas also pressed pointedly for more freedoms for Palestinians in the occupied territories. And he repeated Palestinian objections to a barrier being built by Israel to protect its territory.
Bush did not denounce the barrier, saying only that its route should take the impact on Palestinians into account “consistent with security needs” of Israelis.
Bush’s focus in the talks was Sharon’s settlement withdrawal plan. The U.S. hopes the pullout – if it results in a successful takeover by the Palestinians – will create a better chance for future progress in the peace process.
The new direct aid to the authority, to be part of a $425 million package of already announced aid over the next two years, is part of the U.S. effort to make sure things go smoothly.
But Palestinian legislator and human rights activist Hanan Ashrawi said the $50 million was just a “modest beginning.” “I’m sure the U.S. is capable of giving greater support not only to Gaza, but to the West Bank,” she told The Associated Press.
