(I hope he ask someone other than *, someone who really knows what's going on)
Abbas to ask Bush for clarifications on peace planSat May 21, 2005 10:47 PM ET
By Wafa Amr
RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday he would press President Bush for political and economic support, and an explanation of how Washington intends to pursue Middle East peace after Israel's Gaza pullout. The Palestinian leader, who heads to Washington in what would be his first official visit to the White House on Thursday, made his comments after returning from a meeting with world leaders, including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"We will ask Bush for a clear American position over the implementation of the road map after the withdrawal from Gaza," he told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We want two basic issues. We want him to give us political support and economic support that was promised by Congress because our people are in dire need of it," Abbas said.Palestinians want to resume delayed peace talks over a U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan that calls for Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, lands that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said Israel's pullout from Gaza would signal the "very serious, credible step" on the way to implementing the road map.
"We want it not to be the end-game but the beginning of the first phase of the implementation of the road map. On the other hand we want to rebuild trust so as to be able to go immediately and as soon as possible to the negotiations table," he told reporters on the sidelines of an economic conference in Jordan. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said his government would not renew talks on any final peace deal until Abbas reins in gunmen and dismantles their organizations.
(more and page 2 at link above)
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