President Bush announced Monday the U.S. would give the Palestinian Authority $190 million in new aid, and he outlined plans for an international summit on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

President Bush: “So I will call together an international meeting this fall of representatives from nations that support a two-state solution, reject violence, recognize Israel’s right to exist, and commit to all previous agreements between the parties. The key participants in this meeting will be the Israelis, the Palestinians, and their neighbors in the region.”

President Bush appears set on excluding Hamas from the meeting even though Hamas won the most recent election in the Palestinian territories. The president’s speech came hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Hamas officials criticized the Abbas-Olmert meeting.

Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar: “This meeting is not the first, nor is it the last, and it aims to give the illusion that there is progress in the peace process. The U.S. and the Israeli side have nothing to give the Palestinians. It is merely an attempt to sway Palestinians’ public opinion, which says there is no good in holding talks with these people. They will fool the Arab and Islamic world by releasing 250 (Palestinian) prisoners.”