I met with President Bush in the White House and all I got was this lousy *itch slap!
Posted on 10/21/2005 1:47:28 PM PDT by Alouette
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas basked in the White House limelight again but made little progress in whipping up additional US support in his standoff with Israel, analysts said.
They said President George W. Bush gave no sign he was ready to press Israel to discuss broader peace issues with the Palestinians after its landmark pullout from the Gaza Strip last month.
And Bush took a significant step backwards by dropping any notion of a timetable for the creation of a Palestinian state he had once hoped would be in place by the end of this year, the experts said.
Scott Lasensky, of the United States Institute of Peace, said that Abbas' second trip here in five months might have cemented US-Palestinian relations that had hit a low under his late predecessor Yasser Arafat.
Lasensky added, however, the summit eagerly anticipated by the Palestinians was notably lacking in substance. Abbas "goes home with a symbolic victory but his pockets are empty," he said.
Other analysts said the meeting confirmed the impasse over the US-backed "roadmap" for peace which Bush unveiled at a June 2003 summit in Jordan with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Prime Ariel Sharon.
"The roadmap is inoperative and nothing has replaced it," said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The blueprint had provided for Palestinian statehood by 2005. Bush later hoped it could be achieved at least by the time he left office in January 2009, but on Thursday he said he had no idea when it would happen.
Palestinian officials in Jerusalem played down Bush's remarks but several analysts saw a US president with a lot on his plate and less inclination to invest in the tortuous Middle East peace process.
"The administration seems like it's preoccupied with a lot of other issues from Iraq (to Hurricane) Katrina, the economy," said David Makovsky, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"I think their basic view is, 'When you, the Palestinians, show that you're doing it, we'll get involved. If not we're not going to invest a lot of political capital.' I think that is the message," Makovsky said.
Abbas came to Washington clamoring for immediate implementation of the roadmap to follow up Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank.
But Bush made it clear any new initiative had to start with a crackdown by Abbas' Palestinian Authority on the "armed gangs" opposing peace, a reference to the Islamic militants behind continuing attacks on Israel.
There was no mention of plans by the radical movement Hamas to run in Palestinian legislative elections set for January, a prospect that prompted Israeli threats to withhold cooperation in organizing the polls.
US officials have signaled in recent weeks an easing of their opposition to Hamas' participation. But if Abbas was looking to Bush for assurances that the Israelis would not disrupt the vote, he got nothing publicly.
Abbas did hear some welcome words from Bush, who again called on Israel to halt expansion of Jewish settlements and warned he would "hold people to account for their promises made on the road map."
The US president said he would "in the coming days" name a new official to help the Palestinians on security issues, replacing General William Ward whose term is about to end.
He also said he would seek to extend to early 2006 the mandate of former World Bank chairman James Wolfensohn, who has been helping to find ways to build the Palestinian economy.
But analysts saw little from Bush in the way of any new US energy or bold initiative to revive negotiations on the larger issues separating Palestinians and Israelis.
"He did not make any grievous errors, he just kicked the ball down the road," said Geoffrey Aronson, director of the Foundation for Middle East Peace think tank.
Some experts suggested the lack of any concrete results might make it more difficult for Abbas and his Fatah movement to hold the line against Hamas and the other radicals.
"He (Abbas) didn't come away with a whole lot and he's looking at elections in January and he can't be too pleased," said the CSIS's Alterman.
I met with President Bush in the White House and all I got was this lousy *itch slap!
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
No, that's a step forward.
The State Department is deeply saddened.
Don't believe it. This is a French news agency and if Abbas left without a Presidential promise to nuke Israel, they would say he left empty handed.
Just read the President's own words.
They can drik some Kool aid..
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