Bush : Outlines of Palestinian state can be defined by end of year

Even if Israeli and Palestinian leaders do not reach a peace deal by the end of 2008, there could be "an agreement on what a Palestinian state will look like," US President George W Bush told Israeli television.
"I`m optimistic that we can have the outlines of a state defined," he was quoted by DPA as telling Channel 2 News in an interview broadcast Sunday night. "I`m optimistic because I believe (Israeli) Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert and (Palestinian) President (Mahmoud) Abbas want to achieve this objective."
Olmert and Abbas pledged at the Annapolis conference in November to try reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the end of this year.
But negotiating teams from both sides who have met to try to start the talkss have so far made no progress.
Bush, who arrives Wednesday for a three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas, said he thought the fact that he was "a known quantity" to Olmert and Abbas could prove a spur to progress.