US President George W. Bush told Palestinians yesterday he believed they would sign a treaty with Israel to establish their own state by the time he leaves the White House a year from now.

Challenging sceptics on the first US presidential visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah, Bush told a news conference with President Mahmoud Abbas: ?I believe it?s going to happen, that there will be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office.?

?I am confident that with proper help the state of Palestine will emerge,? Bush added, saying he stood ready to provide both political and economic backing but that Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert must ?come together to make hard choices?.

Speaking at the Muqata compound where the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was besieged by Israeli forces just a few years ago, his successor Abbas hailed Bush as the first US president to commit fully to back a Palestinian state.

Critics say Bush has failed to deploy Washington?s full weight in seeking to end the 60-year-old conflict during the first seven years of his presidency. Many doubt differences can be overcome now, as Bush seeks to burnish his legacy in the Middle East after five years of war in Iraq.

Abbas urged Bush to press Israel to ease security restrictions in the occupied West Bank that Palestinians say cripple their society and economy and halt Jewish settlement. Bad helicopter weather forced Bush to drive past settlements and the mammoth barrier Israel is building through the area. The president said: ?I can see the frustrations. But I also understand that people in Israel ... want to know whether there?s going to be protection from the violent few who murder.?

But Bush, who many Arabs see as too close to Israel to act as honest broker, also said that Israel must ensure the future Palestinian state had contiguous territory and was not carved up by Jewish settlements and security blockades ? ?Swiss cheese isn?t going to work?, he said of the drawing of a border.

Bush also urged Israel, which frequently mounts raids against militants in the West Bank, not to take action that undermines Abbas?s security forces, which Washington hopes will be a pillar of a future, democratic state.

Politically weak, Abbas is hoping Bush?s visit to Ramallah will boost his own standing among Palestinians, who are desperate for progress towards an end to Israeli occupation and fulfilment of their dream of an independent state.

Bush held talks with Olmert in Jerusalem on Wednesday, saying he was ?very hopeful? about prospects for peace. But Bush acknowledged: ?I?m under no illusions. This is going to be hard work.?