Terror at top of Bush's agenda

Brushing aside the disagreements that have long thwarted efforts to make peace between Israelis and Palestinians, United States President George W. Bush views the Middle East conflict as part of his "war on terrorism".

A transcript of a one-hour talk Bush held with reporters aboard Air Force One after his Middle East summits makes no mention of the disputes that have divided Arabs and Jews for decades, including the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory or Jewish settlements on the West Bank or in the Gaza Strip.

Nor did he talk about Jerusalem - holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews - or the right of return sought by millions of Palestinian refugees.

He put the emphasis firmly on the violence, saying the war on terrorism he launched after the attacks on the US in September 2001 must also target the Palestinian militants who attack Israelis.

"There is now battle fatigue ... Hopefully we have reached the point where a lot of good people have begun to realise that the immediate past will lead to nothing but more suffering and humiliation and death."

Bush portrayed Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas as a needy ally in the US-led war.

"We've now got a partner in peace, Prime Minister Abbas, who wants the tools necessary to chase them [militants] down," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Bush said, sees Abbas' role in much the same light.

"He wants a partner in the battle on terror - not somebody who will say they're going to fight terror and then turn a blind eye to terror."

But the afterglow of Bush's venture faded yesterday with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat saying Israel had offered nothing tangible, and hardliners on both sides vowing to oppose a roadmap to peace.

Just a day after the summit, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians on the West Bank, a sign the 32 months of violence was unlikely to abate.

Israeli security sources said the Palestinians were members of the Islamic militant Hamas group planning a suicide attack against Israel.

Arafat, excluded from Thursday's landmark talks in Jordan but apparently playing a behind-the-scenes role, dismissed Sharon's summit pledge to uproot some settler outposts on the West Bank as meaningless.

World leaders lauded the summiteers, though many voiced scepticism. "I don't think anyone ... is getting carried away with ... instant optimism," a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

Chanting, "we are all martyrs-in-waiting", fighters belonging to an armed offshoot of Arafat's Fatah faction trained in the southern Gaza Strip.

"The roadmap leads to hell," a masked spokesman said, threatening a "painful response" against Israel in coming days.

An Israeli security source said that next week Sharon would begin dismantling some of the 50 hilltop outposts built by Jewish settlers without government permission since he came to power in March 2001.

Israeli officials have said as few as 10 may be dismantled.

- REUTERS