European press hits out at Bush, Sharon over Abbas resignation

"Isolated at home, Abbas did not get the support from abroad that he had counted on," the French daily Le Figaro wrote in a commentary on Abbas' departure.

France's left-leaning Liberation sharply criticized US President George W. Bush for being the "poor godfather of a policy that is beyond him" and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for doing everything possible to block peace.

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"Besides Abbas, none of the principal actors in this drama gave the impression of being all that interested in the roles they were playing," the paper said.

Abbas submitted his resignation to veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Saturday, after the two had locked horns over control of the Palestinian security services.

Parliamentary speaker Ahmad Qorei, who has the backing of Arafat and top Palestinian officials, looked set to replace Abbas, who is heading a caretaker government for the next five weeks.

The United States and Israel sidelined Arafat from the Middle East peace process by anointing Abbas as their preferred negotiating partner -- a political gamble that failed, according to several European commentators.

"By wanting to choose their enemy, they now find themselves without a credible interlocutor," Switzerland's La Tribune de Geneve wrote, slamming what it called Bush and Sharon's "erroneous strategy" with respect to Arafat.

"For the past four months, these two leaders -- one through intransigence, the other through inaction -- have made life difficult for Mahmud Abbas," the paper wrote, saying their plan had backfired and would only boost Arafat.

In a commentary entitled "Russian roulette with the roadmap," the Zurich daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung suggested that Sharon was relieved by Abbas's resignation, as he never had "the least intention of putting a complete stop to Israeli settlements in the occupied territories".

"The internationally underwritten roadmap, intended to give the Palestinians a state and the Israelis security, has run out of road," the Financial Times said in its editorial.

But some commentators pointed to Arafat as the main problem, with Britain's Daily Telegraph criticizing the Palestinian leader for "never giving his rival a chance to stop Hamas and other terrorist groups sabotaging negotiations with Israel".