DAR AL HARB-U.S.A.-WASHINGTON D.C.: ABBAS AT THE WHITE HOUSE

Bush seeks boost for Abbas and Mideast peace bid

President George W. Bush hosts Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Thursday to try to bolster him and shore up a fragile U.S.-backed peace effort with Israel.

President George W. Bush hosts Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Thursday to try to bolster him and shore up a fragile U.S.-backed peace effort with Israel.

With 10 months left in office, Bush will hold talks with Abbas in the face of deep scepticism over the chances for securing a Middle East peace deal before the U.S. president finishes his term early next year.

Abbas, weakened by Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in June, was expected to seek stepped-up U.S. pressure on Israel. Bush will visit the Jewish state in mid-May to join in celebrations of its 60th anniversary.

Negotiations between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have yielded little progress since a U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November, where they pledged to try to reach a peace agreement by the end of 2008.

The administration now appears to be picking up the pace of Middle East diplomacy again after Bush failed to achieve a breakthrough on his visit to the region in January.

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1) Bush seeks boost for Abbas and Mideast peace bid