RAMALLAH, May 5: US Middle East envoy William Burns on Wednesday told Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas to launch a “decisive fight against terror”, at Mr Abbas’ first meeting with a senior US official since coming to office.

Mr Burns added that Israel must alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in reoccupied areas and freeze Jewish settlements in the Palestinian lands if the new international peace plan, the “roadmap”, is to be successfully launched.

Speaking after an hour-long meeting in Ramallah with the new Palestinian premier, Mr Burns said US President George Bush was determined to “seize the real opportunity” presented by the moderate Abbas’s appointment last month and the unveiling of the roadmap last week.

He said Bush would “work aggressively and energetically toward a two-state solution, envisaging the roadmap as a starting point”.

But he said both sides had serious obligations to meet if the roadmap, envisaging a Palestinian state by 2005 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, was to avoid the fate of previous peace initiatives.

“For the Palestinians, there’s no substitute for a decisive fight against terror and violence” perpetrated by hardline factions, such as the Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

“For the Israelis, taking practical steps to ease the situation of the Palestinian people and stopping settlement activities” were likewise vital, said Burns, who met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israeli ministers on Sunday.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the roadmap “constitutes a great opportunity for the peace process”, which broke down after Israeli-Palestinian talks under Sharon’s predecessor, Ehud Barak, in July 2000, and was buried in the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation, which erupted two months later.

Mr Erakat and foreign minister Nabil Shaath attended the meeting between Mr Burns and Mr Abbas, whom Israel hopes will gradually ease Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat out of power after decades at the helm. —AFP