Bush Offers Financial Aid to Abbas in Key Sign of Support

President Bush on Thursday made an important show of support for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, offering U.S. financial aid and hailing his reform efforts in the first White House meeting with a Palestinian leader since 2000.

Bush offered Abbas $50 million in direct aid to help Palestinians settle the Gaza Strip once Israel completes its planned withdrawal of Jewish settlers and soldiers this summer. Although the amount is not considered large, the gesture is a key sign of confidence. The United States, concerned about corruption in the Palestinian government, has given it direct aid only twice in the last decade.

“You have made a new start on a difficult journey, requiring courage and leadership each day,” Bush told Abbas, who has faced mounting challenges since he was elected in January. “And we will take that journey together.”

The offer of aid and Bush’s warm words marked a sharp contrast from the treatment accorded Abbas’ predecessor, the late Yasser Arafat. Bush did not consider the longtime Palestinian leader a viable diplomatic partner and never invited him to the White House.

As Bush praised Abbas’ commitment to democracy at a Rose Garden news conference, he registered his unhappiness with the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, which the Bush administration has been prodding toward democratic reform.

Asked about reports that officials of Mubarak’s party had encouraged thugs to attack anti-government demonstrators Wednesday, Bush said, “The idea of people expressing themselves in opposition to the government, and then getting a beating, is not our view of how democracy ought to work.”

The attacks took place in Cairo on the day a nationwide referendum was held on reforms to allow multiple parties to take part in presidential elections.

Abbas, who has been eager to show Palestinians that he can deliver results from Washington, had sought a letter from Bush laying out U.S. commitments on key points in the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. At a meeting in April 2004, Bush gave a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the prime minister has since held out as a key expression of American support.

But U.S. officials, who have been reluctant to do anything that might weaken Sharon’s political position at a time when the Israeli leader faces a challenge from the political right over his Gaza withdrawal plan, declined Abbas’ request.

At the same time, Bush, in a prepared statement, emphasized his administration’s points of agreement with the Palestinians. And in his comments to reporters, he notably did not push Abbas to begin immediately disarming and arresting Palestinian militants, as the Israelis want Palestinian leaders to do.

On another key Palestinian concern, Bush reiterated his position that the Israelis must remove unauthorized outposts from the West Bank and stop Jewish settlement expansion there. The president also said that the barrier Israel is building in and around the West Bank “must be a security, rather than a political, barrier, and its route should take into account, consistent with security needs, its impact on Palestinians not engaged in terrorist activity.”

Bush said Israel should not take any step regarding Gaza, the West Bank or Jerusalem that would breach its commitments under the U.S.-backed peace plan known as the “road map.”

Some observers thought that by mentioning Jerusalem in conjunction with the road map, Bush went further than he had before in cautioning the Israelis. The president may have been responding to Palestinian worries that Israel intends to build settlements that could cut off Palestinian-populated East Jerusalem from the West Bank.

“In the past, he hasn’t said anything in this connection about Jerusalem at all,” said Edward Abington, a former U.S. diplomat who is an advisor to the Palestinians.

Abington said Palestinian officials were also reassured by Bush’s statement that any final changes in borders “must be mutually agreed to,” and by the president’s announcement that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would visit the region before the Israelis leave Gaza to consult with both sides on the next steps in the peace plan.

Palestinian officials fear that the Israeli government may not intend to take other major steps toward a final peace settlement for years after it has completed the Gaza withdrawal.

In his comments at the White House, Abbas signaled his concern about what would happen after the Gaza pullout. He cited the possibility that his government’s first steps toward democratic reform would stall unless Palestinians saw progress toward statehood, a goal of the peace plan.

“Time is becoming our greatest enemy,” he said. “We should end this conflict before it is too late.”

Abington said Palestinian officials considered the meeting “extremely productive” and were reassured by Bush’s declaration that he wanted the two sides to move ahead with the peace plan after the Gaza withdrawal. The promise of new aid was “a vote of confidence in the Palestinian Authority,” Abington said.

Robert Malley, a top Middle East negotiator under President Clinton, said that although Bush had used similar language before, Thursday’s comments seemed overall to reflect stronger support for the Palestinian Authority.

The emphasis on moving to the most difficult, final peace issues “was greater than I expected” and should please the Palestinians, said Malley, director of the Middle East program at the International Crisis Group in Washington. The Bush-Abbas meeting “is as good as [the Palestinians] could have expected.”

David Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the offer of direct U.S. aid was an important step. It showed that the administration recognized that “Abbas is not Arafat” and that the Palestinian Authority had moved toward financial reform.

At a time when the militant group Hamas is poised to become a competitor for political power, it is important to show Palestinians that reform can bring dividends, Makovsky said. The message should be sent that “nonviolence pays,” he said.

The $50 million will come from money already appropriated by Congress for 2005, officials said. Congress also recently approved $148 million in emergency aid to the Palestinians that will be funneled through private groups.

Palestinians had limited expectations for their leader’s meeting with Bush, Abbas’ first since being elected president.

Most Palestinian officials assumed Bush would be reluctant to push Israel too hard, given the fierce opposition Sharon is confronting over the Gaza pullout.

“I think [expectations] were low,” said Ziad abu Amr, a political analyst and Palestinian legislator from Gaza City. “The idea was that the president [Abbas] should present the Palestinian point of view on a variety of issues.”

Oded Granot, Arab affairs commentator for Israel’s Channel One television, told viewers that Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, had much to be happy about, including the pledge of U.S. aid and Bush’s strong praise for the Palestinian leader’s efforts at democratic reform.

“The U.S. administration is wrapping Abu Mazen in a blanket of love,” Granot said.

He said it was significant that Bush did not reiterate his previous written endorsement of Israel’s claim to large settlement blocks in the West Bank. Bush instead said future borders would be subject to negotiation.

Richter reported from Washington and Ellingwood from Jerusalem. Times staff writer Warren Vieth in Washington contributed to this report.