Bush promise support to Palestinian president

US President George W. Bush met with Palestinian President Mohmoud Abbas and warmly praised the Palestinian president, for what he called Mr. Abbas’s commitment to democracy on Thursday, then reiterated that Israel had obligations it must fulfill as both sides work toward a peaceful future for the Middle East.

Bush promised to provide 50 million US dollars in aid for the PNA. He also announced that he had asked Rice to travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah before the planned Israeli withdrawal.

Mr. Bush’s relatively strong support for Mr. Abbas during his visit to Washington this week was constructive and necessary.

The political decisions being made now will have an impact on one of the fundamental issues affecting the likelihood of achieving Mr. Bush’s stated preference for a two-state solution of two democracies, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

The White House has expanded the mandate of an American general to empower him to mediate between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on security issues during Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Previously, General William Ward was generally limited to assisting the PNA as it rebuilt its security forces, and he was specifically told not to intervene in discussions between the two sides.

But US officials concluded that the two sides were failing to coordinate effectively and needed a third party’s help to make real progress before Israel leaves Gaza as planned in August.

Ward’s new role was disclosed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a breakfast meeting with a small group of reporters and Middle East experts on Friday and confirmed by a senior US official.

Abbas described the move as a tangible sign of an enhanced US involvement in resolving the decades-old conflict.

The senior US official said the original goal was not to put him in the middle of the two sides when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named Ward in February.

In her announcement, Rice said that “the United States does not feel that it is necessary to intervene simply for the sake of intervening.”

She said that “the bilateral security cooperation is more important than anything that we could do trilaterally.”

Six months after his appointment as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and more than 100 days after his election as President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Abbas has important achievements, including a significant reduction in Israeli-Palestinian hostilities and a gradual incorporation of the Islamist Resistance Movement (Hamas) into politics. Palestinian security forces have been reorganized and scores of commanders forced into retirement.

But change has been slow and haphazard, a result of resistance by entrenched Palestinian elites and the glacial pace at which understandings reached with Israel are implemented.
The Islamic militant group Hamas poses a formidable challenge to Mr. Abbas’s Fatah in upcoming legislative elections; efforts by Fatah hardliners to postpone or cancel the ballot may only weaken the party further.

Abbas’s legitimacy at home can only be sustained by results. Without change on the ground and tangible diplomatic progress, his difficulties will grow exponentially. He must show improvements in daily life.

Secondly, he must put the Palestinian house in order, notably by institution-building, genuine power-sharing, and rule of law. Palestinian legislative elections form the lynchpin of this process, but Abbas is under increasing pressure to delay them, which could undermine understandings he has forged with Hamas.

Thirdly, Israel must deliver on its commitments. That Israel has withdrawn from only two cities, released few prisoners, and maintains most checkpoints undercuts Abbas’s claim that engagement can achieve more than confrontation.

Perhaps calculating that he had gone too far in denying support to Mr. Abbas, Mr. Sharon promised during his own visit to Washington this week to move ahead with the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from West Bank towns.

Mr. Bush’s provision of USD 50 million in direct U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority was therefore useful in pragmatic terms, since Congress had previously diverted Palestinian aid to Israel or nongovernmental organizations.

Without contradicting previous assurances to Israel, Mr. Bush also boosted Mr. Abbas by declaring that changes in Israel’s 1967 border must occur by agreement between Israel and the Palestinians and that Israel should not meanwhile take steps that would prejudice an accord in the West Bank and Jerusalem, such as settlement construction.

“We have noticed and felt an American commitment, and perhaps this commitment manifests itself through the mandate of General Ward, which will expand,” Abbas was quoted as saying.