Annan pledges support for Abbas

Annan is paying his first visit to the region in four years, a month after Israel and the Palestinian Authority declared an end to more than four years of violence at a landmark Middle East conference in Egypt.

"The international community is determined to work with both sides to press ahead with the peace process and the implementation of the roadmap," said Annan after meeting Abbas in West Bank city of Ramallah.

"I think that the possible developments give us a chance to re-energise the process and work to ensure that the day a Palestinian state will be established living side by side with Israel will not be too long" in the future, he added.

The UN chief's visit coincided with the announcement that Israel would evacuate 24 unauthorised rogue settlements built in the West Bank since Sharon came to power in March 2001.

Israel's decision to dismantle the outposts complies with a key requirement of the moribund roadmap peace plan, drafted by the European Union, Russia and the United Nations and United States.

Annan said he and Abbas discussed Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip later this year and efforts to handover security control to the Palestinian Authority in five West Bank towns.

He said the security transfer -- which had stalled last week -- "is going to take place fairly shortly" and that he was "very encouraged" after his talks with both Abbas and Sharon on Sunday.

Welcoming Annan's visit as "important", Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Qidwa insisted that "international law and the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions" must be the basis for a lasting peace.

But outside the Palestinian government compound, some 500 demonstrators gathered to denounce Israel's controversial West Bank security barrier, with protestors trying to bash down the metal gates, said an AFP correspondent.

"It's forbidden to implement the UN decision on Lebanon and not here in Palestine," said Mustafa Barghuti, the unofficial Palestinian opposition leader.