PLANS for a Middle East peace summit presided over by President Bush as early as next month were being fleshed out in Washington last night after the Israeli Cabinet endorsed the US-backed “road map” for an independent Palestine.

In a breakthrough that formally committed Israel for the first time to the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, voted 12-7, with four abstentions, to approve the plan.

The move, which was also accompanied by Israeli reservations about the plan, set the stage for a meeting with Mr Bush, Mr Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Prime Minister, early next month. White House officials made clear that for the summit to go ahead, steps would have to be taken in the coming days by Mr Sharon and the Palestinian leadership to convince Mr Bush that his active intervention would be practically and politically helpful.

Israel is expected to ease restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, officials said, and violence from Palestinian militants is expected to be reduced sharply. “We look forward to working with all the parties in the region to realise the vision of peace laid out by President Bush in his June 24 speech,” a White House spokesman said, referring to an address last year that set up the framework for the road map. “It’s an important step forward.”

Mr Bush leaves on Thursday for talks with the Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, in St Petersburg, followed by a G8 industrial nations summit in Evian, France.

Mr Sharon, who reluctantly accepted the road map on Friday after public assurances from Mr Bush that Israeli concerns about its provisions would be addressed, overcame opposition by far-right Cabinet ministers and members of his own Likud party. He is to meet Mr Abbas today. “The time has come to divide this piece of land between us and the Palestinians,” Mr Sharon said before the vote.

White House officials said last night that if the momentum can be maintained, Mr Bush favoured chairing a summit with the two men on his way back to the US from the G8 meeting.

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