Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat hailed Saturday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' visit to the United States as a "big success."

Speaking in an interview with the "Voice of Palestine" radio, Erekat said the most important achievement for Abbas' visit was that US President George W. Bush pledged that the final status issues like Jerusalem, borders, refugees, settlements and water " must be agreed upon through negotiations."

"We really believe that this is a reiteration of the firm position of the United States toward the peace process," said Erekat.

He added that another achievement was that Bush assured Abbas that the coming Israeli Gaza pullout was "the first step of the road map peace plan."

Israel is to evacuate troops and settlers from all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four of 120 in the West Bank this summer.

For other accomplishments, Erekat listed the new US aid of 50 million US dollars and Bush's calling upon Israel to stop settlement expansion.

"Now that the position of President Bush and the United States is made clear, what is needed is to translate words into action on the ground," he urged.

Abbas met with Bush on Thursday in what was the first visit of a Palestinian president to the White House since 2000 when peace talks collapsed.

Apart from the new aid, Bush gave an unusually tough message to Israel to halt settlement expansion and other steps that could block a final peace deal.

Source: Xinhua