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Bush, Olmert Praise Palestinians' Abbas

President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday sought to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, calling him a moderate voice and the only true leader of the Palestinian people.

"He doesn't have convince me" too much," said Olmert at the start of his White House meeting with Mr. Bush.

Mr. Bush said he wants Abbas to lead the Palestinians "in a different direction."

The new situation in the Palestinian territories quickly became the main topic for a previously-scheduled meeting between the two leaders, as the two discussed how to shore up Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's shaky emergency government while isolating Hamas, reports CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer.

Mr. Bush called Abbas "the president of all the Palestinians" and "a voice for moderation."

"I'm going to make every possible effort to cooperate with him," the prime minister said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of terrified Gazans fleeing Hamas rule were trapped at a main crossing between Gaza and Israel on Tuesday, hoping to gain permission to pass through Israeli territory to sanctuary in the West Bank.

In other developments in the Middle East:

  • Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak (left) took over as
    (Getty Images)
    defense minister on Tuesday, an appointment that restored the job to a man with solid defense credentials at a time of heightened security concerns on Israel's southern and northern borders. Barak is Israel's most decorated soldier. He takes over from Amir Peretz, a former union chief with little military experience whose handling of the flawed Lebanon war has been widely criticized.
  • The Fatah Central Committee, Fatah's top leadership body decided Tuesday to cut off all contacts with Hamas, Azzam al-Ahmed, a participant, said. "The Fatah Central Committee decided today not to conduct any kind of contact, dialogue or meetings with Hamas unless it ends its military coup in Gaza and restores the situation to normal."
  • Syria's U.N. ambassador on Monday dismissed rumors of secret Syrian-Israeli talks and reiterated Damascus' call for Israel to resume peace negotiations that stalled seven years ago. Peace talks broke down in 2000 after Syria demanded that Israel withdraw from the entire Golan Heights, which it captured in the 1967 war, and Israel refused to make such a pledge until issues of security and normalization of relations were settled.

    Palestinian officials welcome the resumption of U.S. aid but admit that it won't solve their problems, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger.

    "We have a major disaster, a major catastrophe, with this armed takeover in Gaza by these groups. And if we don't help ourselves as Palestinians nobody else will," said Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat.

    Presidents Bush and Olmert met at the White House in the aftermath of Palestinian turmoil that left Abbas, a Western-backed moderate, in control of one Palestinian government in the West Bank and his Islamist rival Hamas in control of the geographically-separate Gaza Strip.

    "Our hope is that President Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyyad — who's a good fellow — will be strengthened to the point where they can lead the Palestinians in a different direction," Mr. Bush said.

    Olmert said he will be talking to Abbas but spoke of several prerequisites for progress towards peace.

    They included a much more responsive Palestinian government and increased security efforts, Olmert said.

    But Israeli analyst Dan Scheuftan says support of Abbas is a waste of time.

    "Mahmoud Abbas is a hologram. He doesn't really exist. He is a rumor. His authority in the West Bank is nonexistent," Scheuftan said.

    Scheuftan believes Abbas cannot deliver on peace because, as in Gaza, he has no control over the terrorist militias that rule the streets.

    Israel appears likely to free up millions in tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinians, assuming it could ensure that the money flowed only to Abbas' operation in the West Bank. Ahead of his meeting with Bush,

    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, was to brief members of Congress on Tuesday about the Bush administration's decision to restart the flow of aid to Abbas' government. She announced the move Monday, after more than a year in which the United States pledged support for Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, but withheld money for fear it would benefit Hamas radicals governing alongside him.

    Hamas' surprise 2006 legislative victory ended decades of rule by Abbas' Fatah Party. Hamas won largely on the strength of the services and smooth government it delivered in its Gaza stronghold.

    Hamas refuses to recognize Israel or renounce violence, conditions the world set for diplomatic engagement and aid. Hamas claims responsibility for the deaths of scores of Israelis in suicide attacks. Israel, the European Union and the United States list it as a terrorist group.

    Abbas was elected separately and retained office through months of political impasse and upheaval. He tried a coalition government this spring, but he dissolved it last week after days of clashes in Gaza between his forces and Hamas that killed some 100 Palestinians.

    (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)
    Fearing death or persecution, Gazans began flocking to the Erez passage after Hamas militants wrested control of the coastal strip from Fatah security forces late last week. Israel, which has no interest in letting masses of Gazans pass through its territory and possibly destabilize the quieter West Bank, has refused to let most of them in, saying their lives were not in danger.

    On Tuesday evening, Israel did allow in six people who were wounded nearly 24 hours earlier when militants attacked the crossing with gunfire and grenades. The people then entered ambulances on the Israeli side.

    Separately, a food aid shipment rolled into Gaza from an Israeli crossing for the first time since the Hamas takeover.

    By Tuesday, about 600 people were holed up in the long, concrete tunnel that leads to the Israeli side of the crossing. Around 100 of them belonged to Fatah security forces, but the rest were civilians, seeking a better life in the West Bank.

    There is little sympathy among Israelis for the refugees at the crossing, reports Berger. Many are Fatah militants who were involved in terror against Israel and now they want Israel to save them. And even those not involved in terror hate Israel to the core, so many Israelis feel, "Why should we help them?"

    Rice announced a $40 million contribution to United Nations relief for Palestinian refugees, a gesture to the 1.5 million Palestinians living in increasingly desperate conditions in Gaza.

    "We're not going to abandon the Palestinians who are living in Gaza," Rice told reporters.

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