Bush Pledges $50M To Palestinians

President Bush praised Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' steps toward democracy on Thursday and said the United States would give the Palestinian Authority $50 million for housing and other construction projects in the Gaza Strip.

"You have made a new start on a difficult journey, requiring courage and leadership each day. And we will take that journey together," Mr. Bush told Abbas in the first visit of a Palestinian leader to the White House of his presidency.

The pledge of direct aid to the Palestinians comes after years of refusing to send money to the late Yasser Arafat's government. The $50 million is part of a $150 million package that Mr. Bush is seeking for the Palestinians from Congress.

Mr. Bush said the money would help Palestinians settle into Gaza once the Israel withdrawal set for this summer is complete.

"America wants to help," he said at a joint news conference with Abbas in the Rose Garden.

For his part, Abbas vowed to adhere to the U.S.-supported peace process.

But, he said, "Time is becoming our greatest enemy. We must end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict before it is too late."

Mr. Bush said both the Palestinians and Israel's must live up to their obligations under the so-called "road map" peace process that calls for creation of an independent Palestinian state on lands captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

"Israel must continue to take steps toward a peaceful future and not take steps "that contradicts road map obligations," Mr. Bush said. He said Israel must "remove unauthorized outposts and stop settlement expansions."

At the same time, the Palestinians must end violence against Israelis and Arab states must work to create a "climate for peace" by refusing to help militants who would attack Israel.

"We must not lose sight of the path ahead," he said.Mr. Bush also predicted that Palestinians will reject candidates of the militant group Hamas in upcoming elections there.

"I don't think they're going to get elected. Palestinian moms want their children to grow up in peace just like American moms want their kids to grow up in peace," he said.

He said he had asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah before the Israeli withdrawal.

Mr. Bush supports the Palestinian goal of a democratic state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Arab East Jerusalem as its capital.

"When we talk about two states, we are talking about a Palestinian state within the boundaries of 1967. That means those boundaries in our view should go back to the Palestinian poeple," Abbas said in response to a question.

He also reiterated Palestinian objections to a barrier being built by Israel to protect its territory.

"There is no justification for the wall and it is illegitimate and well as settlements — it is illegitimate and we should not allow," Abbas said.

At the same time, Abbas said he remains committed to establish a Palestinian democracy.

"I am saying when we have chosen democracy as a way of life this was not an adventure, this was a determination and a strategy that democracy is the only way to move forward," Abbas said.

"But democracy is like a coin, it has two sides, on the one side is democracy and the other side is freedom. ... Now we lack freedom ... We do not live in freedom in our homeland," he added.

Abbas, the Palestinians' first democratically elected president, is seen by White House officials as a leader they can work with, unlike Arafat. The last time the head of the Palestinian Authority was in the Oval Office was in January 2001, when Arafat saw former President Clinton just days before President Bush took office and closed the White House to Arafat.