BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhuanet) -- SEA ISLAND, Georgia: Arab governments should not use the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an excuse to avoid implementing democratic reforms, a senior Bush administration official said on Monday.

    The United States plans to use a Group of Eight industrial nations summit it is hosting this week to push its case for political and economic reforms in the Middle East, but many Arab leaders believe resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is the region's top priority, said Wednesday's China Daily.

    At the same time, the White House expressed hope that the approval by Israel's cabinet on Sunday of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to begin preparing for "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank would eventually lead to a promised withdrawal.

    "We urge the Israelis to finish their preparatory work as quickly as possible," said National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

    She took a wait-and-see attitude toward a letter Palestinian President Yasser Arafat wrote to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak saying he accepted Mubarak's demand for Palestinian security reforms as a condition for Egypt to help stabilize Gaza if Israelis withdraw.

    "I don't know what to make of the statement, but I hope it's a step in the right direction," Rice said.

    The senior administration official, briefing reporters about President George W. Bush's Middle East initiative, said peace between Israelis and Palestinians should be pursued on its own merits.

    Many Arabs are deeply skeptical of US policy in the Middle East given the Iraq War and are bitter about Washington's pro-Israeli position.

    The Middle East initiative has been a subject of meticulous negotiations for six months and the United States had to rewrite some of it to satisfy European concerns.

    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said yesterday he has accepted Egyptian proposals on Israel's pullout from Gaza and overhauling Palestinian security forces.

    Meanwhile, Israeli far-right party National Religious Party said yesterday it would stay in Sharon's coalition for at least three more months, averting a swift collapse of the government over his Gaza withdrawal plan.

    The G8 leaders, meeting at the posh Sea Island resort on the humid Georgia coast, will meet leaders from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen to discuss the Middle East initiative.

    Leaders from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco were invited as well, but all had excuses for declining.

    (China Daily)