The Palestinian leadership also said that Mr. Bush has come out against the right of Palestinian refugees to return to areas that are now part of Israel.

In what many saw as a defiant（挑战的）response to the summit, Mr. Arafat said the Palestinians would never abandon the claims of their refugees, nor make more territorial concessions.

He said that in the long run Palestinians will win their right to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, and it will be the Israelis who have to retreat.

"All the suffering of the Palestinian people, the power, the aggression and the Israeli assassinations and the siege（围攻）, and the collective punishment - all of this is going to push us to stand firm and unify against the Israeli occupiers and force them and their settlers to leave our land forever," he said.

There is also some anger on the Israeli side following the summit. Jewish settlers are stepping up their own campaign to try to stop Mr. Sharon from removing them from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

At the same time, Mr. Bush's endorsement of the plan has won Mr. Sharon more supporters, among them the Israeli immigration minister, Tzipi Livni.

"This is something which we believe was essential for Israel," she said. "It was important for me that President Bush would make this kind of statement."

Ms. Livni is a member of Mr. Sharon's ruling Likud party, which is set to hold a referendum（公民投票）in early May on the prime minister's plan for disengagement from the Palestinian areas. Mr. Sharon needs to win the referendum to help get the approval of his cabinet and the parliament for his plan.