MIDDLE EAST Prime ministers issue peace pledges

Bush offered to send monitors and to help train a Palestinian security force.
AQABA, Jordan (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged today to dismantle illegal settlements in Palestinian areas, while the new Palestinian leader renounced all terrorism against Israel. Both steps were sought by President Bush as he brought the two sides together in a bid to advance Middle East peace.
"We will immediately begin to remove unauthorized outposts," Sharon said. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas declared: "We do not ignore the suffering of the Jews throughout history. It is time to bring all this suffering to an end."
Joining Abbas and Sharon at a podium, Bush praised the Israeli leader's willingness to dismantle the settlements and lauded Abbas for promising "his full efforts to end the full intefadah."
Israelis set up dozens of unauthorized outposts after the intefadah began, most of them in the West Bank and most created since Sharon took office a year ago.
Hard-line Israelis say the settlements reinforce their claim to biblical lands, but other Israelis say the illegal outposts get in the way of a deal that could unburden their country of the costly occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Training and monitors
Bush promised training and support for a "new, restructured Palestinian security service," and said he would place longtime diplomat John Wolf at the head of a U.S. mission on the ground to help the parties and monitor progress.
"The journey we're taking is difficult, but there is no other choice," Bush said. "No leader of conscience can accept more months and years of humiliation, killing and mourning."
"I know that peace can finally come," Bush said.
Abbas promised to "act vigorously" against incitement and hatred against Israel, including using Palestinian security forces.
The three leaders, accompanied by their host, King Abdullah II of Jordan, walked toward the cameras across a bridge specially built for the occasion.
Abdullah called today's three-way meeting between Bush, Sharon and Abbas a step toward fulfilling "a dream of peace, prosperity, coexistence and reconciliation" for the entire Mideast region.
Abbas, calling violence inconsistent with Palestinians' Islamic faith and the establishment of an independent state they have long sought, also pledged to end "the militarization of the intefadah."
"The armed intefadah must end, and we must use and resort to peaceful means in our quest to end the occupation and suffering of Palestinians and Israelis," he said.
Arafat sidelined
Abbas filled a role played in the past by Yasser Arafat, the longtime leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization and symbol of the Palestinian movement. Arafat was not invited; his removal from the peace process was a major demand of Bush's plan, a so-called road map to a two-state Israeli-Palestine settlement.
Sharon said that abandoning incitement, as Abbas pledged, is crucial. "There can be no peace" without it, he said.
Sharon said his government understands "the importance of territorial contiguity" in the West Bank, a key demand of Palestinians.
The site was a summer palace used by Abdullah, and Bush's first meeting of the day was with the king.
From the summit, Bush flew to Doha, Qatar, visiting U.S. troops in the forward U.S. command post where the Iraq war was managed.
It was the first time of his presidency that Bush had held a joint meeting between the two leaders. It followed a meeting the day before in Egypt, in which Arab leaders agreed to stanch the flow of money to terror groups.
Reactions
In a sign of the passions that fuel the conflict, a radical Palestinian group urged Abbas "not to bow to Sharon's blackmail and to adhere firmly to the need for equal commitments from the two sides." The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine urged Abbas to reject "the Israeli and U.S. preconditions that would turn the road map into a mere paper in the drawers of Sharon's government."
Former Sen. George Mitchell, who headed an international commission that published a plan in early 2001 that prescribed steps toward resuming peace negotiations, said on NBC's "Today" show: "People on both sides now lead unbearable lives. They've had 21/2 devastating years. The alternative is looking much more attractive."
Sharon accepted the principle of a Palestinian state. Abbas also publicly acknowledged Israel's right to exist side by side with a Palestinian state. In a goodwill gesture, Israel had released scores of Palestinian prisoners in advance of the summit.
The intefadah
Abbas' pledge to stop the intefadah was a reference to armed militant attacks that have killed more than 750 Israelis in the latest round of violence, including about 350 from suicide bombings. During the same period, more than 2,350 Palestinians have been killed.
An Arab diplomat, speaking on condition that he not be further identified, had said Abbas objected to language on the "military intefadah." Abbas was suggesting it be changed to "civilian popular intefadah" or "popular intefadah," this official said. It wasn't immediately clear why Abbas objected, and the diplomat said the objection was not expected to prevent negotiators to agree on language for a final summit declaration.
Ismail Abu Shanab, spokesman for Hamas, which has taken responsibility for numerous suicide bombings against Israelis, said on ABC's "Nightline": "If the [Israeli] occupation stops, the Palestinians are willing to live in peace and stop all kinds of violence."
The Palestinians want the Israelis to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which were seized in the 1967 Six Day War.
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