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Bush gives 50m directly to abbas

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   http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050526/pl_nm/mideast_abbas_dc_27

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050526/pl_nm/mideast_abbas_dc_27

Bush pledges $50 million in aid for Palestinians
By Wafa Amr and Steve Holland
Thu May 26, 6:11 PM ET


President Bush pledged $50 million in aid for the Palestinians on Thursday and gave an unusually tough message to Israel to halt settlement expansion and other steps that could block a final peace deal.

Standing with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a White House Rose Garden news conference, Bush said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah to consult with Israeli and Palestinian leaders before Israel's planned August pullout from the Gaza Strip.

Abbas, the first Palestinian president to visit Washington since peace talks collapsed in 2000, complained of Israeli settlement activity and said he was leaving with increased confidence of Bush's active role in restarting the talks.

"Time is becoming our greatest enemy," Abbas said. "We should end this conflict before it is too late."

Before resuming peace talks, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has demanded Abbas do more to halt militant violence, which has broken out occasionally despite a February cease-fire.

Bush said the Palestinians must help the peace process by fighting corruption and reforming their security services, but did not repeat demands that they disarm and dismantle militant organizations.

Bush's announcement of U.S. direct aid for Gaza Strip projects was a sign of confidence in Abbas, who has sought money to be channeled directly to the Palestinian Authority instead of through third parties.

U.S. officials said the $50 million will go into a special account the Palestinian Finance Ministry can access with agreement from the United States for housing, roads, schools and health clinics. It will come from previously budgeted, but unspent, money.

Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad called the commitment "an important sign of confidence in our ability to manage in a transparent and fully accountable manner."

A senior Bush administration official said if a year from now "we can show that the money is ... accounted for and being used properly for construction projects," then the U.S. Congress might approve more.

The United States gives Israel $2 billion a year. Washington has approved $200 million for the Palestinians this year, and Bush has asked for another $150 million for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. But that money is typically restricted because of congressional concerns about Palestinian Authority corruption and ties to terrorism.

SETTLEMENTS AND THE WALL

Bush insisted that Israel must address Palestinian concerns about Jewish settlements in West Bank and the path of a barrier Israel is building in the name of security but that Palestinians say is a land grab.

"A viable two-state solution must ensure contiguity of the West Bank, and a state of scattered territories will not work. There must also be meaningful linkages between the West Bank and Gaza," he said.

The wall, he said "must be a security rather than political barrier and its route should take into account, consistent with security needs, its impact on Palestinians not engaged in terrorist activities."

Bush also repeated his demand that Israel stop West Bank settlement expansion.

And he said "any changes to the 1949 armistice lines must be mutually agreed to," referring to Israel's borders before the 1967 Mideast war.

In a letter to Sharon a year ago, Bush had said it was unrealistic to expect that final status negotiations will bring about a full return to the armistice lines of 1949.

Palestinians said that promise had prejudiced the outcome of negotiations.

The senior Bush administration official insisted there was no retreat from Bush's April 14, 2004, letter to Sharon.

The official rebuffed Abbas' call for jumping to final status negotiations once Israel's withdrawal from Gaza is complete, saying Washington preferred to follow the steps outlined in the road map.

"If you had final status talks and they broke down, you would be in a crisis," he said.

Palestinian officials were delighted with Bush's remarks.

"I think we have achieved what we wanted to achieve in this visit. We take President Bush's public declarations as commitments. We do not ask for more," Abbas said afterward.

An Israeli diplomat said Bush's remarks were "an affirmation of the fundamentals of the 'road map,' which we've accepted, as well as the principle that the achievement of a Palestinian state is contingent upon the defeat of violence."

(Additional reporting by Adam Entous)



Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited.



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