Washington: President George W Bush has said the United States will do everything to help Israel and the Palestinians follow a US-backed "roadmap" to peace but said progress depends mostly on them.

"I urge Israelis and Palestinians to work with us and with other members of the international community, and above all, directly with each other to immediately end the violence and return to a path of peace," he said on April 30.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, due shortly to visit the region, telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and newly sworn-in Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas, who formally received the roadmap earlier on April 30.

US Middle East envoy William Burns will visit the region next week to discuss implementation of the roadmap, which calls for creating a Palestinian state by 2005, Abbas said in a statement.

Bush said implementation of the initiative, which calls for an end to Israeli settlements and the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, "will depend on the good faith efforts of both sides".

"An opportunity now exists to move forward. The United States will do all it can to seize this opportunity," he said, but "the pace of progress will depend strictly on the performance of the parties."

The blueprint, drafted by the so-called diplomatic quartet - the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union - also calls for Palestinians to cease all attacks and for Israel to end settlement activity.