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Source: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N29423391.htm
U.S. Pressing Abbas to Act Now to Control Gaza
(Reuters) The Palestinian Authority must immediately start to exert control over Gaza, a senior Bush administration official said on Thursday, suggesting it was a prerequisite to restarting the "road map" peace process and addressing Palestinian issues on the West Bank. The official acknowledged that renewed violence was "not helpful" to U.S.-sponsored peace efforts, saying "it shows the need for the PA to reorganize its security forces and step forward and take control of the security situation in Gaza." The violence has dampened hopes that Israel's troop pullout from Gaza, completed on Sept. 12, would help jump-start the "road map." Exercising control over Gaza is expected to dominate talks in Washington on Oct. 20 between President Bush and Mahmoud Abbas.