JERUSALEM: US President George W. Bush flies into Israel on Wednesday where he hopes to push ahead with Middle East peace efforts while marking the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state.
But renewed turmoil in the region bodes ill for the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that have produced little tangible progress since they were revived at a conference hosted by Bush in November following a seven-year hiatus.
His Middle East trip takes place against a backdrop of deadly sectarian fighting in Lebanon that Bush has blamed on Syria and Iran, and defiance from Hamas over conditions for a truce in the embattled and besieged Gaza Strip.
The US president will also visit Saudi Arabia to mark 75 years of US relations with the oil-rich kingdom, and hold talks in Egypt with regional leaders, including Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
He will not visit the Palestinian territories during his trip, which comes as Palestinians commemorate the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who lost their homes and their land when Israel was created in May 1948.
But the US president told the BBC Arabic service he had a message for the Palestinians: I say to them that I care deeply about the Palestinian people and their future.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and a myriad of other dignitaries will welcome Bush to the sound of trumpets when his plane touches down at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.
The visit is Bush s second since January – after seven years in which he did not set foot in either Israel or the Palestinian territories.
His trip is anchored around the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel but he also hopes to give new impetus to peace talks before his term ends in January.
The US president hopes a peace deal will shore up his legacy and has expressed confidence this could be done in the eight months left in his term. The vision of a [Palestinian] state is such a powerful notion and such an important notion for Israel s very existence, that I do believe that we have a chance to get something defined, Bush told reporters on the eve of the trip.
Olmert said on Tuesday real progress had been made in talks with the Palestinians and understandings and agreements have been reached on very important matters.
The discussions we are conducting with the Palestinian Authority are serious and very significant, Olmert said, without elaborating.
Bush was to hold talks on Wednesday with Olmert, who is embroiled in allegations he took bribes from a millionaire US financier and faces mounting calls to resign.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and armed forces chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi were to take part in the meeting.
Rice insisted on Tuesday an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal could be reached before Bush leaves office.
If the parties want to do this and will put the energy and the will into it, I think they can do it, she told CBS, adding she was impressed the commitment of the two sides.
Palestinians are concerned that the Olmert affair could make Israel take a harder line regarding settlement building, lead to military escalation and further stall any peace talks.
Since the November agreement between Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Israel has announced plans to pursue construction in Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian lands – a core dispute. And the United States has said that its ally has not done enough to improve Palestinian quality of life.
Another obstacle is the continuing violence in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where Israel conducts regular military raids and imposes a crippling blockade in a bid to force insurgents to halt their almost daily rocket and mortar attacks on the Jewish state.
Both sides have talked separately to Egyptian mediators about a possible truce, but Hamas rejected Israel s demand it first release an Israeli soldier it captured almost two years ago.
Bush faces another crisis in Lebanon, where Israel s archfoe Hezbollah has led an armed campaign against forces loyal to the pro-Western government which has resulted in more than 60 deaths in the past week.
Bush blasted Hezbollah s recent efforts, and those of their foreign sponsors in Tehran and Damascus, to use violence and intimidation to bend the government and people of Lebanon to their will, and vowed to help by strengthening the Lebanese armed forces. -AFP
