"We're still on the road to peace, it's just going to be a bumpy road, and I'm not going to get off the road until we achieve the vision," which calls for creating a Palestinian state at peace with Israel, he said.

"I have confidence we can move the peace process forward," he said during a joint press conference with visiting Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, who was here on the first state visit by an Asian leader.

Following the fifth bombing in 48 hours in Israel, Bush reiterated his appeal for Israel, its Arab neighbors, and Palestinians to do their utmost to battle terrorism, and urged Europe to help starve extremists of resources.

"I will move the process forward. But it is clear that the process is not gonna be smooth so long as terrorists kill," said the US leader, who recently directed the release of the so-called "road-map" to Middle East peace.

"Countries in the region that long for a peace process must understand that what's more important than process is results. And that we've got to work together to cut off the funding and the support and activity of the terrorist killers who can't stand peace," he said.

His comments came after the White House, in unusually sharp language, said Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat has "never played a helpful role" in efforts to break the deadly cycle of violence in the region.

"Yasser Arafat never played a helpful role before. I don't know what role he is playing now, but he has never been helpful," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters.

His comments came in response to questions about Israel's charge that Arafat was abetting radical militant groups and doing everything he can to sabotage his rival, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen.

Bush "continues to believe that Abu Mazen is a reformer. But it is important that all in the Palestinian institutions take every action possible to fight terror," said Fleischer.

Fleischer said that US and Israeli officials were working to reschedule Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's planned trip to Washington, which was to have occurred Tuesday but was put off after fresh anti-Israeli suicide attacks.

Bush did not name Arafat, concentrating his appeal on "people in the Palestinian Authority who care for peace," but aides have long said that he does not trust the Palestinian leader and plans to leave him on the sidelines.

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