WASHINGTON, June 19 Kyodo
(EDS: ADDING QUOTES)
U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed Tuesday to shore up Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a moderate voice against rival Hamas militant Islamists.
''I am going to make every possible effort to cooperate with him,'' Olmert said at the start of a meeting with Bush at the White House. Bush described Abbas as a ''reasonable voice'' and ''the president of all the Palestinians.''
Bush expressed hope that the emergency Palestinian government ''will be strengthened to the point where they can lead the Palestinians in a different direction.''
in NewsBlack Women White Men,... (Related) Naked boys vs. naked... (Related) The gangs behind bars... (Related) How do I look?... (Related)
in NewsEbony (Related) Advocate, The (Related) Milwaukee Journal... (Related) Independent, The (London) (Related)
The two met after Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last week that left Abbas, a Western-backed moderate, in control of the separate West Bank.
Before their meeting, Bush and Olmert attempted to emphasize positive developments in the region.
''I'm absolutely determined that there is an opportunity,'' Olmert said.
''It's exciting to be in office during this period,'' Bush said. ''It's an exciting moment.''
But both leaders also discussed the violence and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Bush said he had spoken with new Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad ''about our desire to help suffering Palestinians.''
Olmert denounced Hamas's actions as ''absolutely atrocious and intolerable.''
''I'm sure that many people in the world were astounded by the brutality and the cruelty and the viciousness of the Hamas murderers that killed so many Palestinians in such a way,'' he said.
''Israel will not be indifferent to the human suffering in Gaza,'' Olmert said.
Bush said he and Olmert ''share a common vision of two states living side-by-side in peace.''
''It's in Israel's interest to have a state,'' Bush added. ''It's a demographic pressure that ultimately is going to make it very difficult for Israel to maintain its Jewishness as a state.''
He called on Arab countries to support the concept of a two-state solution, saying, ''Inherent in that is Israel's right to exist. There needs to be solid recognition of this state's right to live in peace.''
On Monday, the United States announced its ''full support'' for Abbas's emergency Palestinian Cabinet, resuming assistance, lifting financial restrictions and restoring relations between the two governments.
Hamas, a militant Islamist group branded as a terrorist organization by the United States and others, refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, which is the reason Washington had withheld financial and political support for the Palestinian government since Hamas's surprise victory in elections early last year.
The emergency Cabinet was sworn in Sunday in the West Bank to replace the coalition government between Abbas's party Fatah and rival Hamas.
Abbas dissolved the coalition government and declared a state of emergency Thursday after Hamas militants captured an important Fatah security installation and the information bureau in the Gaza Strip, executing some Fatah members in the street and effectively gaining control of the entire territory.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Kyodo News International, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group
No comments:
Post a Comment