US President George W.Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair met in the White House on Friday to discuss the latest development in Iraq and the Middle East conflict,both vowing not to waver in face of mounting insurgency in Iraq over the past two weeks.

"The prime minister and I have made our choice.Iraq will be free.Iraq will be independent.Iraq will be a peaceful nation.And we will not waver in the face of fear and intimidation,"Bush said at a joint press conference with Blair in the Rose Garden of the White House.

"The past few weeks have been hard and the days ahead will surely bring their own challenges.What we're seeing in Iraq is anattempted power grab by extremists and terrorists.They will fail,"he said.

Bush said the June 30date for the transfer of sovereignty will be kept and on that date,the US-appointed Coalition Provisional Authority will cease to exist.

But the US president added that the US-led coalition forces will remain in Iraq after the transfer of sovereignty to help the new Iraqi government to stabilize the country.

Bush welcomed the proposals presented by UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi which outline the way to set up an interim Iraqi government pending the June 30deadline.

Brahimi has proposed the establishment of a caretaker government which is made up of a prime minister,a president and two vice presidents and will rule Iraq until January next year when elections are supposed to be held.

As to the Middle East conflict,Bush reiterated his support fora plan presented to him by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday about Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

He said the controversial plan,which is widely believed to be an attempt by Israel to annex large chunks of the West Bank and prejudge the parameters of any final solution,is "a good opportunity"for the parties of the conflict and urged Palestinianleadership to rise to the challenge.

In a balance to his almost full embrace of Israeli position in his meeting with Sharon on Wednesday,Bush said that Israelis and the Palestinians still have to negotiate all final status issues such as the status of Jerusalem,the borders and the Palestinian refugees.

"All final status issues must still be negotiated between the parties,"he said.

Blair,a staunch supporter for the Iraq war,echoed Bush's remarks on Iraq."We stand firm.We will do what it takes to win this struggle,"he said.

"We will not yield.We will not back down in the face of attacks,"Blair added.

He vowed that Britain and the United States stick firmly to theJune 30timetable for the handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis and will redouble their efforts to build the necessary capability of the Iraqis themselves to take increased responsibility for security and law and order.

He said that the United Nations will have "a central role"in developing the program and machinery for political transition in Iraq and a new UN Security Council resolution will be sought to reflect the new development.

While welcoming the Israeli plan to pull out from Gaza and parts of the West Bank,Blair stressed that the disengagement should only be a part of a process to get the parties back into the stalled Middle East roadmap peace plan.

He said the roadmap offers the only realistic route to realize the vision of the two states,Israel and Palestine,living side byside in peace.