Posted on 01/09/2008 8:50:32 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
JERUSALEM (AP) - President Bush, seeking to pull Israel and the Palestinians toward serious negotiations, said Wednesday that despite ongoing land squabbles and fears of violence he has high hopes that a Mideast peace pact can be achieved before he leaves office at the end of the year.
"I come as an optimistic person and a realistic person - realistic in my understanding that it's vital for the world to fight terrorists, to confront those who would murder the innocent to achieve political objectives," Bush said as he began his first presidential visit to Israel.
His first formal meeting was with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who said the peace conference Bush hosted late last year in Annapolis, Md., gave all parties in the difficult Mideast peace process one year to make progress.
"Time is so precious," Peres said.
With Bush's days in office nearing their end, Peres said all sides must take this chance "extremely seriously."
"I also believe that the process may be slow, but the progress can be sweet," he said.
Bush acknowledged the complexity of the task ahead for Israel.
"You know, its politics can be rough sometimes just like the politics of America can be rough," Bush said. "But nevertheless, we share a common vision of peace."
Bush is trying to build momentum for stalled Mideast peace talks and clear up confusion about whether the United States is serious about confronting Iran about its suspected nuclear ambitions. The president said both the United States and Israel have been targeted by terrorists, and he compared the battle against extremists to World War II.
"I come with high hopes," Bush said. "And the role of the United States will be to foster a vision of peace. The role of the Israeli leadership and the Palestinian leadership is going to do the hard work necessary to define a vision."
After his meeting with Peres, Bush began one with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister.
There's been little headway since Bush hosted the splashy Mideast conference in November in Annapolis, which launched the first major peace talks in seven years. And just before Bush arrived, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip bombarded southern Israel with rocket and mortar fire.
Bush's three-day visit to Israel and the West Bank does not include stops near or in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Islamic Hamas militants who are not a party to negotiations.
Bush got a warm welcome in Israel. Yet in Gaza, Palestinian hardliners staged small protests against Bush, underscoring the deep political split with West Bank moderates who have welcomed the visit of the U.S. president as an important gesture to the Palestinians. Among those marching was a shadowy al-Qaida-inspired group, which for the first time appeared in public with rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and uttered vague threats against U.S. targets.
At Peres' official residence, Bush was greeted by several dozen school children wearing white shirts and waving Israeli and U.S. flags. The children danced and sang a disco medley of Israeli folk and peace songs. Bush and Peres waded into the crowd, and slowly swayed to the music.
Peres beamed, and an emotional Bush smiled, putting his arm around one boy and high-fiving other children.
Peres underscored Bush's hopes - considered unrealistic by many in the Mideast - to bridge decades of differences in just one year and reach agreement for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
"The next 12 months will be a moment of truth," Peres told Bush at an airport arrival ceremony complete with red carpets and a military band. "It must not yield just words."
Bush offered an equally optimistic view of prospects for peace when he arrived earlier in Tel Aviv, saying "We see a new opportunity for peace here in the Holy Land and for freedom across the region."
Unpopular at home, Bush was greeted here with smiles and warm handshakes.
"You are our strongest and most trusted ally in the battle against terrorism and fundamentalism and a staunch supporter of our quest for peace and stability," Olmert told the president upon his arrival.
Bush also stressed the deep U.S.-Israel ties.
"The alliance between our two nations helps guarantee Israel's security as a Jewish state," Bush said.
That remark lent support to Israel on one of the core issues in the conflict. The Palestinians oppose calling Israel a Jewish state, saying it rules out the right of Palestinian refugees to return to lost properties in Israel. They say the fate of the refugees is a matter for negotiations. Bush has referred to Israel as Jewish state in the past but the reference - here in the region - had special significance.
Pledging to stand with Israel against terrorists, Bush said, "We will do more than defend ourselves. We seek lasting peace. "
Bush's challenge is to convince skeptical governments that, with just a year remaining in his presidency and Americans deep in the process of selecting his successor, he is willing to devote the time and effort necessary to bridge decades of differences in this troubled region.
On the eve of Bush's arrival, Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledged to have negotiators begin work immediately on the so-called final status issues. These include the final borders between Israel and a future Palestine, completing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem, the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and Israeli security concerns.
Still, expectations of success are low, and no one is predicting big breakthroughs as Bush visits Israel and the Palestinian-governed West Bank - two stops on a visit that also will take him to Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The Palestinians are angry about Israeli plans to build new housing in east Jerusalem and the West Bank - areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by the Palestinians for their future state. Israel, for its part, has demanded that Palestinian forces do more to rein in militants in the West Bank. Since Olmert and Abbas last met, two Israelis were killed in the West Bank, and Israeli security forces say members of Abbas' Fatah movement were responsible.
Bush is meeting with Olmert and other top Israeli officials in Jerusalem, the ancient city that both sides claim for a capital, following arrival ceremonies in Tel Aviv. Bush sees Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Bush also plans visits to Christian holy sites and Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem.
Bush says he also will work to explain a new U.S. intelligence report that concluded - contrary to earlier White House assertions - that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003. That finding undercut U.S. efforts to build support for sanctions against Iran and raised questions about whether the White House was losing its interest in confronting Iran.
Ping!
But the REAL important stuff is what is happening behind closed doors.
“Time is so precious,” Peres said.
So is the blood of 6 million slaughtered Jews who died because they didn’t have a home of their own at the time.
So is the blood of those who faught to win their land back from their enemies, which God has ordained for THEM.
Time is nothing compared to the lives of those you put at risk with these proposed insane policies Peres and Co..
“Bush Visits Israel to Push for Peace”
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Wrong.................
“Bush Visits Israel to Force More Concessions from Them”.
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As if they didn’t have enough problems with rockets from wild-eyed, blood thirsty zealots falling on their tiny country.
But hey.... ANYTHING FOR A LEGACY!
“You are our strongest and most trusted ally in the battle against terrorism and fundamentalism and a staunch supporter of our quest for peace and stability,” Olmert told the president upon his arrival.”
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Olmert...the Clueless One.
FReepMail to be added or removed from this pro-Israel/Judaic/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
I forgot to mention the pogroms against the Jews throughout history. Has man learned nothing?
AMEN! That is how my sanity is kept.
Pledging to stand with Israel against terrorists, Bush said, "We will do more than defend ourselves. We seek lasting peace."Drilling the ANWR and eliminating gasoline formulations (i.e., production bottlenecks) while developing seafloor gas hydrate deposits and pulling the plug on grant-supported global warming propaganda would be a great way to start.
High hopes, or is he just plain high?
"it's vital for the world to fight terrorists, to confront those who would murder the innocent to achieve political objectives,"
Giving terrorists - Fatah - over a billion American taxpayer dollars is fighting them, it's appeasing them.
Is that a smart idea, going into Ramallah?
“As if they didn’t have enough problems with rockets from wild-eyed, blood thirsty zealots falling on their tiny country.”
It added to the “warmth” of the story that they mention that “Among those marching was a shadowy al-Quida-inspired group, which for the first time appeared in public with rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers...” Who wouldn’t want them as neighbors in the “influx”? Maybe we are all missing something...
Oy, that's isn't fighting them.
If Bush thinks there can ever be peace in the middle east,
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua
without the return of the Prince of Peace,
he is deluded and not a follower of the Christ.
Have to give GWB some credit, he knows which side can be pushed.
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel, WOT
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Thanks for the ping.
I pray that President Bush will be well protected and escaped the prescribed “bombs” of Al Quaeda.
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