WASHINGTON, Oct 20: US President George W. Bush pressured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday to do more to fight terrorism to advance a peace process he said may not create a Palestinian state for years.

Speaking at a joint Rose Garden news conference after talks with Abbas, Bush said the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank had created new opportunities and responsibilities for the Palestinians.

“The way forward must begin by confronting the threat that armed gangs pose to a genuinely democratic Palestine,” Bush said. “In the short term, the Palestinian Authority must ... earn the confidence of its neighbours by rejecting and fighting terrorism.”

But in a recognition of the difficulties involved, Bush for the first time suggested that a Palestinian state may not be created until he is out of office.

He has more than three years remaining in his term. Last year, Bush set a four-year goal of achieving Palestinian statehood.

“I’d like to see two states. And if it happens before I get out of office, I’ll be there to witness the ceremony. And if doesn’t, we will work hard to lay that foundation so that the process becomes irreversible,” Bush said.

However, Bush said he was more confident today about the possibility of the state of Palestine emerging than when he first took office.

Abbas defended himself, saying he was working on the security problem laid bare by the killing of three West Bank settlers on Sunday in an attack claimed by an offshoot of the Palestinian Fatah movement.

Israel killed a senior militant the same day, froze security contacts with the Palestinians and rei-imposed some West Bank roadblocks it had lifted.

“We have taken active steps in imposing the rule of law and public order and ban armed demonstrations,” he said.

He said Israel needed to do more to foster an atmosphere of peace by returning to the requirements of the “road map,” or U.S.-backed peace plan.

Israel withdrew unilaterally from tiny coastal Gaza last month. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said the move would strengthen Israel’s case for retaining what are much larger settlements in the West Bank, stripping Palestinians of land they consider crucial to a future viable state.—Reuters