President George W. Bush on Tuesday gave qualified support to Olmert's proposal to withdraw from a huge part of the West Bank, but retain key areas where there are Jewish settlements. Olmert told Congress he wanted to hold talks with Palestinians on the plan.

"I extend my hand in peace to Mahmud Abbas, elected president of the Palestinian Authority. On behalf of the state of Israel, we are willing to negotiate with a Palestinian Authority," he said.

"In a few years they could be living in a Palestinian state, side by side in peace and security with Israel," Olmert said.

But he reiterated Israel's demand that the Hamas government recognize Israel's right to exist and renounce violence as a precondition for any peace agreement.

"No one can make it happen for them if they refuse to make it happen for themselves," Olmert said of the prospects for negotiations.

The premier repeated Israel's commitment to the US-sponsored roadmap to peace -- which calls for a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians -- but said there had to be a deadline.

"Our deepest wish is to build a better future for our regions, hand in hand with a Palestinian partner," he said. "But if they refuse, we will not give a terrorist regime a veto over progress, or allow it to take hope hostage."

"Should the Palestinians ignore our outstretched hand for peace, Israel will seek other alternatives to promote our future and the prospects of hope in the Middle East."

Olmert's three-day visit to Washington was aimed at reaffirming Israel's strong ties with its chief ally following Olmert's election victory.

The support Bush offered to Olmert's predecessor Ariel Sharon was vital for the success of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last year. Olmert knows he needs similar support for his West Bank plan.

"The next step is even more vital to our future and to the prospects of finally bringing peace to the Middle East. Success will only be possible with America as an active participant," he said.

After their White House summit on Tuesday, Bush called Olmert's strategy a "bold" idea.

In his speech, which received no less than 18 standing ovations from the US lawmakers, Olmert sought to put Israel together with the United States in its efforts to confront terrorism.

"Our countries do not just share the experience and pain of terrorism. We share the commitment and resolve to confront the brutal terrorists."

He urged the United States and the international community to act to confront the Iranian nuclear programme, which he qualified as "an existential threat" for Israel.

"A nuclear Iran is an intolerable threat to the peace and security of the world," he said. "Our moment is now. History will judge our generation by the actions we take now," the premier said.

"If we don't take Iran's bellicose rhetoric seriously now, we will be forced to take its nuclear aggressions seriously later," he said.

"This challenge, which I believe is the test of our time, is one the West cannot afford to fail."

The United States and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb while Iran insists its atomic program is peaceful.

Bush on Tuesday said that "in the event of any attack on Israel, the United States will come to Israel's aid."

"The Jewish neighbourhood in Hebron will grow" and be linked to Kiryat Arba, Schneller told The Associated Press. "Hebron and Kiryat Arba are supposed to be part of the Israeli state."

About 500 Jewish settlers live in heavily guarded enclaves in Hebron in the midst of about 170,000 Palestinians. The settlers are among the most ultranationalist in the West Bank.

Olmert's plan calls for withdrawing from most of the West Bank while retaining major settlement blocs. Although Hebron is not part of these blocs, Schneller said the city's Jewish areas will remain part of Israel.

Hebron is home to the a holy site where Jews and Muslims believe the biblical patriarchs are buried. Schneller said the holy site will be included in the section that Israel keeps.

Israel will find "creative ways" to separate most of the Palestinians from the Israeli-controlled section, bringing the settlement, the Cave of the Patriarchs and Kiryat Arba together, Schneller said.

Olmert has pledged to try to negotiate the withdrawal with the Palestinians, but says Israel will decide itself what areas to give the Palestinians if peace talks are not possible. With the Islamic militant group Hamas in control of the Palestinian government, peace talks appear unlikely.

The unilateral pullout would fall short of Palestinian claims to all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem as part of a future independent state.

Earlier this month, leaders of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails presented a document which calls for national unity among all the Palestinians.

The document was signed by jailed officials of Islamic and national factions, including the Fatah movement, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad (Holy War), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Hamas officials said that Hamas would accept Abbas' idea.

Nayef Rajoub, a senior Hamas official and a minister of the Hamas-led cabinet, said that "Hamas welcomes democracy and respects the choice of the people."