RAMALLAH, West Bank, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's top negotiator, Ahmed Qurie, told a U.S. envoy on Saturday that a peace deal with Israel would only be possible this year if commitments by both sides were met. Qurie told visiting Assistant U.S. Secretary of State David Welch that Israel has not met its obligations under a long-stalled "road map" peace plan, such as halting all settlement activity and uprooting outposts built without government authorisation in the occupied West Bank. "We talked about the possibility of achieving peace this year and an agreement with Israel this year. We said yes it is possible but with good will from both sides," Qurie said. He added the peace process would require continuous support from the "Quartet" of Middle East negotiators -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- and the international community. During a visit to Israel and the West Bank last month, U.S. President George W. Bush set as a goal reaching an agreement on Palestinian statehood before he leaves office next January. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has already made clear he won't implement any statehood agreement until Abbas reins in militants in the West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who heads Abbas's Western-backed government in the West Bank, told Reuters on Thursday that he did not believe a "final resolution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be completed in 2008. (Reporting by Mohammed Assadi; Editing by Sami Aboudi)
Islamic Action Front supporters step on Israel and U.S. flags during a rally to show solidarity with Gaza, in Amman, February 8, 2008. REUTERS/Majed Jaber (JORDAN) ...
