MIDDLE EAST: Russian president Vladimir Putin pledged yesterday in Ramallah to help the Palestinians rebuild their shattered infrastructure once Israel leaves the Gaza Strip, and to supply the Palestinian security forces with equipment and training.
But he made no reference to several dozen armoured vehicles he has promised the Palestinians - an offer Israel has opposed.
In remarks clearly aimed at Israel, Mr Putin said that if Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was expected "to fight terrorism effectively, he can't do it with slingshots and stones. We must understand this".
But Mr Putin, who met Mr Abbas yesterday on the final day of his three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories - the first ever by a Russian head of state - added that he wanted the co-operation "to be completely open and not cause concern on the Israeli side, and we will resolve this together".
Israeli government sources said this week, however, that Israel will oppose the transfer of troop carriers to the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Abbas, they said, must first order his forces to move against armed Palestinian groups.
In addition to training for Palestinian security forces, Mr Putin has offered the Palestinian Authority two helicopters which will be used to transport Mr Abbas.
Mr Putin stood side by side with Mr Abbas in the Palestinian leader's compound in Ramallah yesterday as a brass band played a halting version of the Russian national anthem.
The Russian leader also placed a wreath at the grave of Yasser Arafat, who is buried in the compound.
Mr Putin's visit to the region is being seen as an attempt to restore, in part at least, Russia's pre-cold war centrality in the region and to upgrade its role as a mediator in the conflict.
The offer of assistance to rebuild infrastructure in Gaza, which has been badly damaged by Israeli forces in more than four years of fighting, is part of Mr Putin's attempt to carve out a role for himself in a Mideast peace process.
Referring to the fragility of a three-month period of calm - in effect since Mr Abbas and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon agreed to a cessation of hostilities in early February - Mr Putin remarked that there was "still a lot of distrust and grievances.
"In this fragile situation it is really important that both sides do not get sidetracked from their previous agreements."
Mr Putin seemed to back away yesterday from an idea he floated earlier this week, on the eve of his arrival in Israel, for the holding of a Mideast peace conference in Moscow later this year to promote the internationally backed road map peace plan.
While the Palestinians backed the idea, both Israeli and American leaders poured cold water on it.
Apparently backtracking, officials accompanying Mr Putin said the president's idea had been for experts, not leaders, to consult on the conflict later this year in the Russian capital.
While the Soviet Union historically backed the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel, diplomatic relations between Russia and the Jewish state were restored in 1991, following the collapse of the Iron Curtain.
Some one million Jews from the former Soviet Union have immigrated to Israel since the fall of communism in 1989, strengthening ties between Russia and the Jewish state.