Abbas pledges reforms at Middle-East conference

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told delegates at a high level conference in London that he is committed to reforms.

The conference, which is dedicated to demonstrate international support for the Palestinian Authority headed by Mr Abbas, has attracted attendees from 23 countries and speakers will include US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

At the opening of the two-day conference, Mr Abbas said that his administration was dedicated to fighting militant factions and working with Israeli authorities. However, though Israel is not officially represented at the conference, Israelis will be watching any developments at the conference very closely. For his part, Mr Abbas declared that he wanted to see political paths opened that would put an end to violence and counter-violence.

Today, Condoleeza Rice highlighted Israel's move to signal disengagement by Israeli forces in the Gaza strip and parts of the West Bank. Ms Rice urged "no actions that would prejudice a final settlement" for a viable Palestinian state.

Mr Abbas declared that the Palestinian Authority was "on the path to peace".

In his opening speech Tony Blair described the conference as a means to promote a "viable state" as a solution to the conflict in the region, but he warned that it was a "fragile enterprise".

It had been hoped that the conference would be a fully supported peace summit, but Israel has declined to attend and full US backing has not apparently been forthcoming. This has led to the effective downgrading of the talks to that of a conference at which it is hoped that elements of the "road map" proposals may be discussed and the role of the Palestinian Authority promoted ahead of substantive negotiations with Israel.

Mr Blair who is hosting the conference following a verbal agreement reached between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority said that the Middle East conflict had been one of the most "used and abused" by militants and he called for detailed negotiations towards peace.

It is expected that a communique may be issued later today announcing the formation of a team to help the Palestinian Authority reform security and economic policies.

A meeting between Israeli and Palestinian representatives, provisionally scheduled to take place later this year in Washington, will see both state's leaders meet with the US administration who are keen to broker a deal.

Also attending the conference is UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who has said that the "prevailing mood" at the conference was one of "optimism".

There have been four years of sporadic armed conflict in the region between Palestinian militants and Israeli security forces that has resulted in over 3,000 deaths.

(SP)