Hamas slams Bush for dropping timetable

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas (C) speaks with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R), R-TN, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (L), D-NV, during a visit to the US Capitol to meet with Congressional leaders Thursday in Washington, DC. Abbas met earlier with US President George W. Bush at the White House. PHOTO: AFP

Hamas said Bush broke his promise a day after he hosted Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas at the White House for their first meeting since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip last month.

"Bush said he wanted to see a Palestinian state, but without a timetable," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP in Gaza City.

"He went back on his last promise," Abu Zuhri said, referring to comments made by the US leader when he was re-elected last November.

Standing next to Abbas on the lawn of the White House, Bush said he believed his two-state vision was possible but acknowledged he did not know if a Palestinian state would be created by the time he left office in January 2009.

"I can't tell you when it's going to happen. It's happening," he said of the state he had once said would come into being by the end of this year.

"If it happens before I get out of office, I'll be there to witness the ceremony. And if doesn't, we will work hard to lay that foundation so that the process becomes irreversible," Bush said.

His comments were at odds with remarks made in November 2004, when he said: "I would like to see it done in four years. I think it is possible."

The internationally drafted Middle East peace roadmap, which was launched in June 2003, laid out steps for the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

However, Palestinian officials in Ramallah played down Bush's reluctance to adhere to a timetable.

"It is the first time that President Bush has said he would use his influence for the formation of a Palestinian state," chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP. "The deadline is not important when he uses such strong words."

The Hamas spokesman also took a swipe at Bush's call for Abbas to crack down on "armed gangs", and urged the Palestinian Authority to resist international interference in Palestinian affairs.

"Bush focused on putting pressure on the Palestinian Authority to confront the factions. This is dangerous," Zuhri warned.

Bush had been widely expected to push Abbas to do more to rein in militants following a weekend shooting attack which left three Israeli settlers dead.