US president George Bush expressed confidence yesterday, during his first visit to the Palestinian territories, that a Middle East peace treaty could be signed before he leaves office in a year's time and that a Palestinian state, which would be a product of that treaty, would be "contiguous".
"I believe it's going to happen, that there's going to be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office," Mr Bush said at a joint press conference with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. "I'm on a timetable," he added. "I've got 12 months in office."
Palestinians will also have been happy to hear Mr Bush assert that a future Palestinian state would have to be "one of contiguous territory" and not "Swiss cheese" - a reference to Palestinian fears that settlements in the West Bank will leave them with a disjointed, cantonised state. But they will have been less pleased to hear the president's remarks on border adjustments in a final peace deal and on the fate of Palestinian refugees.
Mr Bush reiterated a commitment he made to former prime minister Ariel Sharon that Israel will not be expected to withdraw fully from the West Bank in a future peace deal, enabling it to hold on to some of the major settlement blocs.
"While territory is an issue for both parties to decide, I believe that any peace agreement between them will require mutually agreed adjustments to the armistice lines of 1949 to reflect current realities and to ensure that the Palestinian state is viable and contiguous," he said.
While the Palestinians claim the right of return for refugees to their former homes in Israel, Mr Bush said he believed "we need to look to the establishment of a Palestinian state and new international mechanisms, including compensation, to resolve the refugee issue".
The president did, however, chide Israel for undercutting Mr Abbas's security forces. Israel, he said, "ought to help, not hinder, the modernisation of the Palestinian security forces".
But more significant was the president's assertion that a future peace deal might not adhere to UN resolutions that Palestinians for decades have clung to as the basis for any comprehensive agreement. "Look, the UN deal didn't work in the past," Mr Bush said.