Middle East progress

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's visit to the White House yesterday is an auspicious and welcome event for the revived Middle…

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's visit to the White House yesterday is an auspicious and welcome event for the revived Middle East peace process, signalling publicly that the United States will be properly engaged with it.

He received a pledge from President Bush that $50 million will be channelled directly to the Palestinian Authority and heard that secretary of state Condoleezza Rice will visit Jerusalem and Ramallah before the planned Israeli withdrawal from Gaza this summer.

These are necessary and welcome moves to bolster the new Palestinian leadership elected after the death of Yasser Arafat. The Bush administration flatly refused to deal with Mr Arafat, blaming him for corruption and dependence on militarist groups. Simultaneously it gave undertakings to Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon about settlements on the West Bank and Israel's future borders if a two-state settlement is reached. This unbalanced approach was rightly criticised at the time by Arab and European states.

Efforts to revive the peace process, based on the "road map" prepared with the US, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia have sought a more even-handed approach in which Washington would play a prominent role.

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The reception given to Mr Abbas there this week suggests such a policy will be followed by this "quartet" of international actors through the summer as Israel withdraws from Gaza. Originally Mr Sharon planned this as a unilateral act; now he understands it will have to be part of a wider effort to find a peace settlement. Mr Bush reiterated yesterday that Israel will have to remove unauthorised outposts on the West Bank and stop expanding settlements there. Mr Abbas insisted that a two-state settlement must be based on the borders established before the Six Day war in 1967.

It is to be hoped the Gaza withdrawal can lead to a momentum for renewed negotiations on a settlement. Parliamentary elections for the Palestinian Authority in July should bolster Mr Abbas's authority further against his opponents in Hamas who reject the roadmap. But unless he can show relatively rapid progress in the talks he will come under renewed pressure from his critics. They say neither Mr Bush nor Mr Sharon can be trusted as negotiating partners and that the roadmap cannot deliver a viable Palestinian state.

Mr Bush must keep up the pressure on Israel to reciprocate in these talks if he is to remain true to the commitments he made yesterday to Mr Abbas.