AL QUDS, May 31: Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said he believed he could convince militant groups to agree within three weeks to halt attacks against Israel, as US President George Bush vowed on Saturday to do everything in his power to forge a peace agreement.

“I will do all I can to reach an agreement and see it enforced,” Mr Bush said in Poland on the first stop of a European and Middle Eastern tour during which he would meet next week Mr Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The Abbas and Bush statements came despite a vow by the Hamas to continue its attacks as long as Israel failed to make substantial concessions.

Two summits slated for next week are part of efforts to end 32 months of Palestinian-Israeli bloodshed with the so-called roadmap for peace, which calls for both an end to violence and the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

The first will be hosted on Tuesday by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and will bring together Mr Bush and some Arab leaders.

On Wednesday, King Abdullah II will host Mr Bush, Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon at the Jordanian coastal resort of Aqaba.

Mr Abbas said in an interview with Israeli public television Friday night that, “after the two summits ... we will continue the negotiations with the Palestinian organizations and within two or three weeks maximum, we will succeed in having a universal agreement which we can count on.

“I am an optimist: we will achieve an agreement on a halt in the violence,” he said.

The Israelis and Palestinians are already crafting a joint statement to be released at the close of the Aqaba meeting, Palestinian sources said.

Mr Abbas also pledged that Palestinian security services would be ready in about the same amount of time to take responsibility for certain areas of the Gaza Strip and West Bank where Israeli troops have taken control.

“We’re talking about ‘Gaza First,’ and certain cities in the West Bank. We will take responsibility for the security (in these areas) in two to three weeks,” he said.

Mr Abbas had met Mr Sharon late Thursday for the second time in two weeks to discuss kickstarting the roadmap.

In line with the plan’s call for Israeli troops to withdraw to positions they held before the uprising broke out, Mr Sharon agreed to a phased handover of security control in Gaza and West Bank towns. In return, Mr Sharon has demanded Mr Abbas move to halt the violence, including “dismantling terror organizations, confiscation of illegal weapons and the ending of incitement.”

Mr Abbas said in the interview he believed the Palestinian territories needed “one sole authority and one sole legal armed force.”

The comment was probably aimed at Hamas, which said it would only stop its suicide attacks if Israel halted all aggression against the Palestinians.—AFP