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‘Palestinian state possible during Bush term’

* Abbas says US ready to accept Hamas in Palestinian elections
* Welcomes Bush’s call for an end to Israeli construction in the West Bank

WASHINGTON: Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said Friday that an independent Palestinian state can be ready by the end of President George W Bush’s term in January, 2009 - although Bush now refuses to set a deadline.

Abbas also said in an interview with AFP that he had convinced Bush not to oppose the participation of the radical group Hamas in the Palestinian legislative election to be held in January.

Bush has pulled back from an aim he set a year ago to establish a Palestinian state by the end of his second term, but Abbas said an independent state was “realistic, if we work on it from now”.

Abbas said he did not believe Bush had intended to make his comments after their talks at the White House on Thursday.

“I had the impression that the comments of President Bush were not planned, that he had not set out to say what he did. We had no discussion about this topic,” the Palestinian Authority president told AFP. “It was not a political position but a position expressed on the spot.” Bush surprised observers with his comment at a press conference after the White House talks.

“I believe that two democratic states living side by side in peace is possible. I can’t tell you when it’s going to happen. It’s happening,” Bush said. “If it happens before I get out of office, I’ll be there to witness the ceremony. And if doesn’t, we will work hard to lay that foundation so that the process becomes irreversible,” the US president added.

Abbas said there had to be an alternative negotiation channel between Israelis and Palestinians, similar to the secret talks that led to the Oslo peace accords and Palestinian autonomy in 1993.

“I am totally convinced that if we work seriously with the Israelis nothing will stop the creation of a Palestinian state” before 2009, said the Palestinian leader who is ending his second visit to Washington since his election victory in January.

Israel, he said, remained the main problem over the role of Hamas in Palestinian politics.

Hamas is on a US State Department list of terrorist groups, but Abbas said he had convinced the US administration to accept the participation of Hamas in the Palestinian elections.

“The Americans wanted to talk about the participation or non-participation of Hamas in the elections. We explained our point of view to them and I think they will accept it but it is the Israelis who are the problem,” Abbas said.

Abbas said the US president had asked how Hamas candidates could stand in an election “when they continue to carry arms and do not recognise Israel”.

“I explained that we have a democracy and that movements of all political colours must be allowed to participate in the elections.” He said: “I think I succeeded in getting my argument across to the president, to (Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice and to Congress.” Abbas said there would be no restriction on the Hamas candidates, denying a US press report that Hamas politicians would have to sign a document promising to renounce violence before they could stand.

According to Abbas, the presence of Hamas in the election was a step toward the integration of the radical group into the institutions of the Palestinian Authority.

Abbas said that Hamas would not end the domination of his own party, Fatah, in the elections. “Fatah is the main force in the Palestinian street,” he declared.

Israel opposes Hamas, blaming it for dozens of anti-Israeli attacks and saying that Hamas wants to destroy the Jewish state.

Abbas welcomed Bush’s call for an end to Israeli construction in the West Bank but said the US leader would have to put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. “Ariel Sharon is not an easy man. I cannot put pressure on him but someone like President Bush can.” Abbas said a long-awaited summit with Sharon could go ahead within two weeks if preparations can be completed.

“We do not want a public relations meeting but one that will lead to results agreed in advance,” he said. afp

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