Bush, Olmert vow backing for Abbas

WASHINGTON —  President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged Tuesday to work together to strengthen the government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and try to revive peace talks with him.

The leaders, appearing before a White House meeting, praised Abbas as a moderate and a democratically chosen leader, and said they would work with him against his rivals in the militant Hamas movement. Hamas last week ousted Abbas’ Fatah party from the Gaza Strip, leaving the Palestinian territories under divided control.

Bush described Abbas as “a reasonable voice among the extremists in [the] neighborhood.” He praised Salam Fayyad, chosen by the Palestinian president last week as prime minister, as a “good fella.”

“Like you,” Olmert told Bush, “I want to strengthen the moderates” and cooperate with Abbas.

At the same time, Olmert suggested that Israel’s support for Abbas would not be unconditional. He said the Palestinian Authority must work to end terrorism. And he was careful to point out that while he shared Bush’s vision of separate sovereign states of Israel and Palestine, he would also insist on “making sure that there is security for the people of Israel.”

Tuesday’s meeting, the third between the U.S. and Israeli leaders in a year, was arranged in part to strengthen Olmert, whose approval ratings in Israel are in the single digits. Bush praised the Israeli prime minister as a friend and a strong leader.

“I am strongly committed to Israel’s security and viability as a Jewish state, and to the maintenance of its qualitative military edge,” Bush said in a statement released later.

He also emphasized that efforts in behalf of Abbas were part of his administration’s campaign to broaden democracy in the Middle East. “You can only defeat [extremists] so much militarily,” Bush said. “You also have to defeat them with a better idea. The better idea is being practiced by our friend Israel: It’s called democracy.”

But the leaders may find they have to navigate a difficult course in trying to promote Abbas’ West Bank-based government as the democratic choice. Hamas was thrust into power last year as the result of American-backed democratic elections. And under the Palestinians’ Basic Law, Abbas’ new emergency government can remain in power for only 60 days.

In addition, some analysts say Abbas may be unwilling to be identified as a close ally of the Americans and Israelis at a time when Hamas controls Gaza.

The coastal strip’s borders have been sealed since the street battles last week that led to the Islamist group’s conquest of the territory. On Tuesday, Israel allowed passage of 10 truckloads of food into Gaza.

An Israeli military spokesman said ambulances took six Palestinians from Gaza for treatment in Israeli hospitals. They included two people wounded during a gun battle at the Erez border crossing Monday.

More than 300 Palestinians continued to crowd a concrete passage at the crossing Tuesday, hoping to gain permission to pass through Israeli territory to sanctuary in the West Bank.

Hamas has put up border checkpoints to catch Fatah security force leaders trying to leave Gaza. A Hamas website showed pictures of former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan, who is exiled in the West Bank, and three other Fatah officials displayed on playing cards.

“Revenge is coming no matter what” was written under the photos, one of which was crossed out. It belonged to Samih Madhoun, killed by a Hamas mob Thursday.

At the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which was opened for a few hours Monday to allow at least 150 Palestinians visiting Egypt to return home, a few dozen more Palestinians were camped out Tuesday in hopes the crossing would open again soon.

“We want them [the Egyptians] to let us out. We have a catastrophe in Palestine.... I have five sons there. I don’t know what will happen to them,” said 58-year-old Mohammed Abd, who was camped about 200 yards from the crossing.

His wife, Haleema Ibrahim, who had traveled to Egypt with her husband to undergo spinal surgery, agreed. “Despite all the shooting and the destruction, we want to go home,” she said.

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paul.richter@latimes.com

Times staff writer Richard Boudreaux in Jerusalem and special correspondent Noha el Hennawy in Rafah contributed to this report.