US President George W Bush plans a speech later Monday to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and outline ways to support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to dpa. Bush was to speak at 1:15 pm (1715 GMT) at the White House, an event that was not announced until Sunday. It follows after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Abbas earlier in the day in Jerusalem. Bush has sought to bolster Abbas since he ousted Hamas from the government after the militant group seized control of the Gaza Strip in June. With Hamas out of the government, the United States had announced a resumption of direct aid to the Palestinian government. The White House hinted that Bush might be announcing additional aid. With the rule over the Palestinian territories divided between Hamas in Gaza and Abbas Fatah party in the West Bank, the United States wants to move forward with a West Bank-first approach in renewing the peace process with Israel. But there has been scepticism over the long-run potential of the strategy because Hamas and other radical groups have a presence in the West Bank and could carry out terrorist attacks to thwart any progress toward peace, analysts say. "On one hand, a West Bank-first strategy is a commendable effort to make lemonade out of lemons. But it also seems to be an extension of the mistaken belief that sufficient effort to isolate and pressure Hamas will make Hamas go away. Hamas will not go away," Paul Pillar, a former chief Middle East analyst on the US National Intelligence Council, told the Washington Post. The Post reported Monday that US intelligence has raised questions about whether Abbas is politically strong enough to negotiate peace and govern the West Bank effectively. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates are to travel to the Middle East at the end of this month in an effort by Bush to step up diplomacy toward resolving the conflict.
