Time is short for peace settlement, warns Abbas

As President George W. Bush announced US$50 million ($70.4 million) of housing aid for the Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, delivered a blunt warning that time was running out for a peace settlement with Israel.

"We must end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before it is too late," Abbas declared during a highly symbolic visit by a top Palestinian official to the White House yesterday.

"Time is becoming our greatest enemy," he said, condemning Israel's continuing settlement building, and reiterating the goal of a Palestinian state "within the boundaries of 1967".

His appearance in the Rose Garden came at a pivotal moment for efforts to re-activate the so-called "roadmap to peace".

Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza is approaching. But so are Palestinian municipal elections, set for July 17, at which Abbas - hailed in Washington as a new type of Palestinian leader when he succeeded the detested Yasser Arafat last year - faces a tough challenge from the militant Hamas group, still classified by the US as a terrorist organisation.

Meeting Congressional leaders earlier, Abbas denied West Bank reports he was seeking to have the elections pushed back to November.

The later date would be safely after the Gaza withdrawal, whose success depends not only on compliance by the displaced Israeli settlers but also on close co-operation with the Palestinian security forces.

The visit is the first to Washington by a Palestinian President since 2000, when the peace talks brokered by President Bill Clinton collapsed into violence.

Six months later the Bush Administration came to office, vowing to have no dealings with Arafat.

"We want a clear political position from the US regarding the implementation of the roadmap as well as economic aid," Abbas said before the talks. But whether he got one is highly debatable.

Bush again condemned Israeli settlement expansion. But the fresh aid, earmarked for Palestinian housing in Gaza, is a fraction of the US$1.2 billion ($1.7 billion) of international help pledged to Palestine last December, of which only US$100 million ($140 million) has been forthcoming. The US each year provides Israel with more than US$2 billion ($2.8 billion).

Bush also said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah to consult Israeli and Palestinian leaders about Israel's August Gaza pull-out.

With more than one eye on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's domestic difficulties over the pull-out, Bush again leant on Abbas to do more to tackle Palestinian extremism and corruption. He repeated the familiar mantra that both sides must meet their obligations under the roadmap.

"Photo-ops will not provide much help," said Dennis Ross, Middle East envoy for the first President Bush and Clinton, arguing that Abbas desperately needed help if he was to show results and prevent power slipping to Hamas.

- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS