Bush urges Abbas to crack down more on militants

“The way forward must begin by confronting the threat that armed gangs pose to a genuinely democratic Palestine,” Bush said. “In the short term, the Palestinian Authority must … earn the confidence of its neighbours by rejecting and fighting terrorism.”

Ratcheting pressure on Abbas and Israel to get moving on the US-backed peace “road map”, Bush for the first time suggested that a Palestinian state may not be created until he is out of office.

He has more than three years remaining in his term. Last year, Bush set a four-year goal of achieving Palestinian statehood.

“I’d like to see two states. And if it happens before I get out of office, I’ll be there to witness the ceremony. And if doesn’t, we will work hard to lay that foundation so that the process becomes irreversible,” Bush said.

However, Bush said he was “a heck of a lot more confident today” about the possibility of the state of Palestine emerging than when he first took office.

Abbas defended himself, saying he was working on the security problem laid bare by the killing of three West Bank settlers on Sunday in an attack claimed by an offshoot of Fatah, Abbas’ ruling Palestinian faction. Israel killed a senior militant the same day, froze security contacts with the Palestinians and reimposed some West Bank roadblocks it had lifted.

“We have taken active steps in imposing the rule of law and public order and ban armed demonstrations,” Abbas said.

He said Israel needed to do more to foster an atmosphere of peace by halting settlement expansion and the construction of a barrier wall around the West Bank that Palestinians fear will be used to set a political border.

“Peace and security cannot be guaranteed by the construction of walls, by the erection of checkpoints and by the confiscation of land, but rather by the recognition of rights,” Abbas told the press conference. —Reuters