WASHINGTON — President Bush said Thursday that he wants to lock in the outlines of a Palestinian state before he leaves office, even as Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said the road is “paved with obstacles.”
With less than nine months to achieve that goal, Bush is conducting a flurry of diplomatic meetings, including a session with Abbas in the Oval Office on Thursday, seeking to pressure Israel, the Palestinians and their Arab allies.
“A Palestinian state is a high priority for me and my administration — a viable state, a state that doesn’t look like Swiss cheese,” Bush said.
Bush met Wednesday with King Abdullah of Jordan. In May, he is planning to make his second visit to the Middle East this year.
Abbas, speaking with Bush during a photo session at the end of their roughly 35-minute meeting, said, “Time is of the essence.”
Without spelling out specific challenges, he said: “I cannot say that the road to peace is paved with flowers. It is paved with obstacles.”
Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resumed meetings earlier this month after a six-week break, seeking to make progress on the U.S.-sponsored peace talks. They have met only sporadically since the peace conference in Annapolis, Md., in November.
Serious questions remain about whether Bush, Abbas and Olmert can reach the necessary compromises to finalize the outlines of a Palestinian state by Jan. 20.
“Mahmoud Abbas has to not only convince the Palestinians he can get things from the Israelis and the Americans, but that he can get more than any other Palestinian leader. I don’t think he has made that case,” said Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. Alterman also is a former member of the State Department policy planning staff.
Also Thursday, Hamas proposed a six-month truce between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the militant Islamic movement.
Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas political leader, announced the proposal in Cairo after meeting with Egyptian officials who are mediating between Hamas and Israel. Zahar said smaller militant factions from Gaza would meet in Cairo next week and be asked to adhere to the truce proposal before the Egyptians take it to Israel.
If a truce goes into effect, Egypt would work to extend it to the West Bank, Zahar said. Israel is not expected to reply to the truce proposal until the Egyptians present it.
