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ROADMAP TO ME PEACE

Abbas to urge Bush for restart to talks

Afp, Washington
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas was expected to ask for US help getting Israel to resume negotiations when he meets with US President George W. Bush at the White House yesterday.
"We will urge President Bush to make an effort to move the peace process forward, after (Israel's) retreat from Gaza, through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to reach a final agreement ensuring the creation of a Palestinian state, " Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.
Abbas, who arrived Wednesday for his second meeting with Bush in five months, but the first since Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, said in
a letter published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal that he had done his part to advance the "roadmap" to peace, while Israel "has taken steps that undermine" it.
Abbas said the 26 months since Israel announced it was abandoning Gaza "have witnessed the highest rate of West Bank settlement construction in all the occupation years," adding also that Israel had not stopped building its security "wall".
He warned that by refusing to negotiate and insisting on unilateral actions, Israel was "nourishing that minority within Palestinian society that sees violent struggle as the only answer." "I have managed, in the nine months since my election, to create a climate of peace and not a climate of violence amongst Palestinians," Abbas said.
"Yet this climate of peace needs the help of the US and the international community: For without sustained pressure on the Israeli government to sit down and negotiate, Israel will only bolster those within Palestinian society who do not share the majority's desire for peace."
Abbas's meeting with Bush comes after Israel cut ties with the Palestinians in response to the killing Sunday of three Jewish settlers, the first attack since Israel's pullout last month from the Gaza Strip.
"Pronouncements that Gaza should not be first and last should be followed by moves relating to the end of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967 and a satisfactory resolution of the final status issues," said Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad.
"We want to move the process forward," Fayyad added. "Any outstanding issues dealing with Gaza, such as the crossings, the port and the airport, should be dealt with speedily to allow sustainable economical development and avoid that Gaza becomes a big prison."
Abbas, in his commentary, said the Gaza Strip could not be free "as long as Israel maintains its stronghold over the borders, water and airspace."
In addition to Gaza and the West
Bank, Abbas and Bush were also expected to discuss radical Islamist movement Hamas's participation in the Palestinian legislative polls on January 25, which Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Wednesday called "madness."
"The elections will be held on the set date, and any group, without exception, can participate. We will not let Israel undermine the Palestinian democratic process," said spokesman Abu Rudeina.
"We'll ask the US administration for help in holding the elections for the good of stability in the region," he added.
Bush is expected to demand that candidates in January's elections renounce violence.
Abbas said that the Palestinians, "after nearly 40 years of occupation, still do not live as free people in their own land."
And he underscored the importance of creating a Palestinian state, saying it would "allow its citizens finally to taste freedom, and our freedom will be the foundation for lasting peace in the Middle East."
Abbas met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice late Wednesday. "It was a good meeting. We are pleased with it," said Fayyad.
Abbas, who in May became the first Palestinian leader welcomed to Bush's White House, visited Jordan, Egypt, France and Spain before arriving here and was expected to visit Morocco after he leaves.