Palestinian sources told the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi that Bush is pushing for the declaration of a temporary Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip as a first step and a test case before a declaration of independence.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei recently announced the Palestinians are rejecting out of hand the idea of establishing a new government in the wake of Israel?s Gaza withdrawal. The PNA also has repeatedly rejected the idea of a temporary state with temporary borders.

However the United Nations chief on Tuesday dispelled Palestinian fears that the withdrawal from Gaza would be the last Israeli pullout from the Palestinian territories which Israel occupied in 1967.

?For us, the Quartet, it's Gaza first and then the next stage will be the West Bank, not Gaza first and Gaza last,? UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters in New York on Tuesday. ?What happens in the West Bank is very much on our mind,? he said.

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responded by saying that what comes after disengagement depends entirely now on how the Palestinians handle their newfound responsibilities.

?If they want Gaza to be first, and not last, then this experiment must succeed,? the official told The Jerusalem Post.

Annan was speaking after joining the representatives of the Quartet who met in New York to discuss the Gaza disengagement and the prospects for movement towards peace in the Middle East.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, High Representative for European Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, and European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner attended the meeting.

?Rice called Abbas to inform him of efforts to be made so that the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip will be followed by initiatives that will allow the creation of a Palestinian state,? PNA presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP on Tuesday.

?During the conversation Abbas stressed that means needed to be arranged as quickly as possible to allow Palestinians free passage through the Rafah crossing? between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, he said.

Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will meet on Wednesday next week to discuss reopening the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, Palestinian national security advisor Jibril Rajoub told a news conference.

Abbas is also scheduled to meet with Sharon on October 2.

Abbas, Sharon Urged to Honor Sharm el-Sheikh Obligations

Following a closed-door meeting at UN headquarters, members of the Middle East Quartet said the Gaza pullout created ?new opportunities'' to realize the UN-adopted ?roadmap? to establish a Palestinian state, and called ?for renewed action in parallel by both parties on their obligations in accordance with the sequence of the Roadmap,? a statement released by the Quartet said.

The Quartet urged the PNA and Israel ?to return to the cooperative agenda reached at to return to the cooperative agenda reached at Sharm el-Sheikh.?

Israel has yet to deliver on its pledges to pull out the Israeli Occupation forces (IOF) and hand the security control to the PNA in five West Bank regions-cities in exchange for the truce, which the Palestinian anti-occupation factions have been observing since Abbas and Sharon held their summit meeting in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on February 8.

?As part of the confidence-building process? the Quartet urged both sides honor their Sharm el-Sheikh obligations. ?Contacts between the parties should be intensified at all levels. The Quartet charges the Envoys to keep progress under review,? the Quartet?s statement said.

Palestinian State Must Be Truly Viable, Contiguous

?The conclusion of disengagement represents an important step toward achieving the vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security,'' the statement added.

The IOF said Tuesday it had withdrawn from two more Jewish colonial settlements, thus completing Prime Minister Sharon's unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip and a small corner of the northern West Bank.

?Any final agreement must be reached through negotiation between the parties and that a new Palestinian state must be truly viable with contiguity in the West Bank and connectivity to Gaza,? the Quartet reaffirmed.

While welcoming ?the fact that, in areas covered by disengagement, Israel has gone beyond its obligations under the first phase of the Roadmap,? the Quartet expressed ?its concern that settlement expansion elsewhere must stop, and Israel must remove unauthorized outposts.?

The Quartet also continued ?to note with concern the route of the Israeli separation barrier, particularly as it results in the confiscation of Palestinian land, cuts off the movement of people and goods, and undermines Palestinians' trust in the Roadmap process as it appears to prejudge the final borders of a Palestinian state.?

PNA Should Reform, Factions Disarmed

However the Quartet called on the PNA to reform, the Palestinian factions to ?abandon? the course of violence and to ?engage in the democratic process.?

?The Quartet calls for an end to all violence and terror. While the PA leadership has condemned violence and has sought to encourage Palestinian groups who have engaged in terrorism to abandon this course and engage in the democratic process, the Quartet further urges the Palestinian Authority to maintain law and order and dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure,? the statement said.

It added: ?The Quartet reaffirms the continued importance of comprehensive reform of the Palestinian security services. The rule of law through authorized security institutions is fundamental to democratic practice.?

During a press conference after the Quartet?s meeting, Rice and Annan said the Quartet had discussed Palestinian security reform, the Palestinian economy, freedom of movement in Gaza and the cooperation between the PNA and Egypt to control international borders.

Other topics of discussion included activities of White House special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian issues, former World Bank President James Wolfensohn.

?Our task now is to seize the momentum to help the Palestinians build a model so they can govern,? Rice told reporters.

However the Quartet of international peace mediators stopped short of backing Israeli demands that the Islamic Resistance Movement ?Hamas? be barred from standing in legislative elections next January unless it disarms and recognizes the Jewish state.

?Ultimately, those who want to be part of the political process should not engage in armed group or militia activities, for there is a fundamental contradiction between such activities and the building of a democratic state,? they said.

Asked about Ariel Sharon?s threat to obstruct the conduct of Palestinian elections if Hamas is allowed to run, Rice said: ?We understand this is a transition and we think everybody else understands this is a transitional process. We have to give the Palestinians some room for the evolution of their political process.?

? Palestine Media Center