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President Bush (right) greets the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday. (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners May 26, 2005 |
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The White House has prepared a tangible show of support for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas today. The plan Bush was to announce, with Abbas at his side in the Rose Garden, would give the Palestinian Authority a cash infusion for housing and other construction projects, a senior administration official said. The vast majority of U.S. aid to the Palestinians has been channeled through other groups, and just $40 million has gone directly to the authority over the past two years.
Congress has approved $275 million in Palestinian aid for this year and is considering Bush's request for an additional $150 million for next year. The new direct aid was to be part of that package.
But the meeting is a delicate balancing act for Bush, who is expected to push Abbas to tackle the tough job of dismantling all Palestinian terror groups.
In the meantime, in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal Thursday, Abbas wrote that "President Bush has supported our quest for freedom, as he made clear in his vision of a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict."
Later, he warned: "It is also, however, a vision that is under attack."
"If President Bush is still convinced and committed to his original vision, as I hope he is, and if Prime Minister Sharon is pressed to abandon a unilateral solution, we can together make 2005 the year of peace in the Middle East," Abbas wrote.
In the article, Abbas notes that in four months and through persuasion he managed to do what Israel could not achieve in more than four years of military attacks, namely a relative lull in violence.
This, despite the recent barrage of terrorist attacks and rocketfire on settlements about to disengage.
He added that the so-called continued calm is in danger unless peace talks are initiated at once, saying that the upcoming Gaza pullout must only be viewed as a first step, to be followed by more withdrawals and peace talks with the purpose of reaching a final-status agreement.
Turning his attention to the Jewish state, Abbas wrote "Every day Israel is undertaking steps that undermine President Bush's vision and effectively preclude a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict".
In the meantime, Israel has refused to return to the negotiating table with the Palestinians until it completes its plan to withdraw settlements this summer from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank -- and until Abbas does more to rein in terrorist groups that attack Israel.
The AP contributed to this report.
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