WASHINGTON, July 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - With his friend "George" by his side, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared Tuesday, July 29, that Israel will continue the construction of its separation wall snaking through the West Bank.

This immediately triggered an outcry among Palestinian officials who warned that Israel was continuing to place stumbling blocks to the peacemaking drive and efforts to implement the internationally-backed roadmap plan.

After U.S. President George Bush assured him of "unshakable" commitment to Israel’s security and understanding of its concerns, Sharon to reporters the so-called "security fence will continue to be built with every effort to minimize the infringement on the daily life of the Palestinian population."

Bush, who on Friday dismissed the separation wall as a "problem" to the peace process and confidence-building with the Palestinians, said he understood the "fence" was a "sensitive issue" to Israel, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Dashing Palestinian hopes of laying pressures on Sharon to scrap the construction of the separation wall, Bush only promised to continue talks with Sharon "on how best to make sure that the fence sends the right signal, that not only is security important, but the ability for the Palestinians to live a normal life is important as well."

Palestinians have decried the security boundary as an attempt to establish the boundaries of a future state outside the negotiating process.

Heaping praise on his friend "Ariel" his courageous leadership, Bush said he was "encouraged" by several recent measures taken by Israel which he said furthered the cause of peace.

Israel said Friday it would remove a number of roadblocks in the West Bank, free up frozen Palestinian funds and would turn over two more West Bank cities to Palestinian security control.

On Sunday, Israel also announced it would free 540 Palestinian prisoners later this week, 210 of whom belong to the Palestinian resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

However, Palestinian powers lambasted the Israeli move as insufficient especially that there are more than 6,000 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.

Bush also reminded Palestinians that the future state which the U.S.-backed roadmap for Middle East peace sees being established is dependent on an end to attacks against Israeli targets.

"The rise of a peaceful Palestinian state and the long-term security of the Israeli people both depend on defeating the threat of terror groups and ending incitement and hatred," he said.

On the same topic, Sharon said Israelis were thankful for every hour of "increased quiet and less terrorism," in recent weeks.

"Mr. President, I am confident that you, as the leader of the free world in its war against terror, will act to ensure that the Palestinians put a complete stop to the threat of Palestinian terrorism, so that it will never rear its head again."

Bush, under pressure from Palestinians to urge Israel to improve spotty implementation of roadmap conditions, said he encouraged Sharon to take "further steps" to improve the daily lives for Palestinians.

"I also urged the prime minister to carefully consider all the consequences of Israel's actions as we move forward on the road to peace," he said.

Moving away from Israeli-Palestinian issues, Sharon warmly praise Bush for ousting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, whom he branded as one of the "most ruthless and tyrannical leaders in history."

He also lauded Bush's warning last week that Syria and Iran were guilty of harboring terror suspects.

"It must be made clear to these countries that their evil deeds cannot continue. There can be no compromise with terror and evil," he said.

Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr immediately hit out and dismissed as "entirely negative" Sharon's comments.

"He gave no single positive sign at all," Amr told AFP.

"He is not stopping the (Jewish) settlements and he is going on with the wall," the minister added.

"This means there are big obstacles in the way of the peace process and the implementation of the roadmap," said Amr.

"There is a difference between Bush's position and Sharon's position about the wall.

"I think that President Bush made an effort about the wall but Israel did not pay respect to him," said the Palestinian minister.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, an advisor to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, said Sharon's words were "not encouraging."

He asserted that Sharon "made no commitment to implement the roadmap. We want a complete Israeli withdrawal from our cities and our areas and a release to all the prisoners and the cancellation of the wall."

The separation wall dips deep into occupied Palestinian territory at several points allegedly to protect Jewish settlements and leaves several Palestinian villages cut off from the rest of the West Bank.

The wall is also expected to cut annexed east Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank.

It will eventually snake some 900 kilometers (540 miles) along the West Bank and leave even larger swathes of its territory on the Israeli side and could cost up to 2.2 million dollars a kilometer or a total of 1.8 billion dollars, even though the Israeli economy is in dire straits.

The controversial barrier has also sparked a semantic battle: Israel labeled it a security fence, or a "seam zone," terms which fail to reflect the magnitude of the work at hand.

Palestinians have dubbed it a "wall," a clear reference to the Berlin Wall and a terminology only accurate in parts of the northern West Bank.

After talks with Abbas Friday, Bush decided on the Palestinian term asserting: "It is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and the Israelis ... with a wall snaking through the West Bank."