Bush to offer $190 million in Palestinian aid

WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) President George W Bush today will offer new support for the Fatah-led government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, marking a higher profile effort to resolve the West Asia conflict.

Bush will announce 0 million in new aid to the Abbas government according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He will also call for a regional meeting this autumn to discuss ways to get peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians back on track, the official said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will lead the session that will include Israel, the Palestinian Authority and ''neighbors in the region.'' ''The purpose of it will be to review progress toward building Palestinian institutions, look for ways to support further reforms and support the effort going on right now between the parties together,'' the US official said.

The 190 million dollars is for the current fiscal year 2007 that ends on September 30. That aid is in addition to some aid programs that have already been announced, including million the administration has requested from Congress that was intended to provide security for Abbas.

After the violent takeover last month of the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Western countries have rallied behind Abbas with promises of renewed aid.

Bush will reaffirm his vision of a Palestinian state at peace with Israel in a 1715 GMT speech, the White House said.

Rice, Bush's point person on the Middle East, had been scheduled to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories this week.

But that trip has been postponed and instead, Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, will visit unspecified countries in the WEst Asia late this month or early in August to reassure allies of the US commitment to the region and ask for support in helping to stabilize Iraq.

US allies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt have long wanted Bush to get more involved in West Asia peacemaking and Rice is expected to make clear to them that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a priority in the administration's final 18 months.

''The president will be making significant announcements about the West Asia and about our policy,'' White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.

REUTERS SR KN2312