US presses Olmert to talk to Abbas

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met US President Geoerge W. Bush yesterday, facing pressure to hold "serious talks" with moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr Olmert, on his first US visit since his election in March, intended to outline his plan for the future of the occupied West Bank to a wary US President George W. Bush.

Mr Bush was expected to hold off on embracing Mr Olmert's ideas. They call for removing remote Jewish settlements, keeping larger enclaves forever and unilaterally imposing a border if peace efforts remain frozen.

Senior officials said Mr Bush wants to be convinced that Mr Olmert's go-it-alone proposal, which has spurred Arab opposition and European concern, will not prejudice any future final-status talks for a two-state solution.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the administration does not expect Israel to negotiate with Hamas. The Islamist militant group refuses to renounce violence and officially calls for Israel's destruction.

But Mr Snow said Washington considered Mr Abbas, who has a history of negotiating with Israel, the "logical person to deal with".

"We are interested in making sure that (Olmert) has serious talks with his Palestinian counterpart," Mr Snow told reporters. Mr Olmert has expressed a willingness to do so, but has deemed Mr Abbas "powerless" to act while Hamas rules.

With peacemaking long on hold and hopes for any progress dimmed further now that Hamas leads the Palestinian government, no major decisions are expected during Mr Olmert's meeting with Mr Bush.

"Olmert needs to convince the United States... that we exhausted all opportunities and that there's nothing else, and we have to go for this unilateral disengagement," one Israeli official said.

Mr Olmert took over from Ariel Sharon after the Israeli leader suffered an incapacitating stroke in January, and he was elected Prime Minister in March.

Under his West Bank plan, Mr Olmert intends with or without Palestinian agreement to bolster major enclaves Israel says it intends to keep and to set a border by 2010.