Bush visits Israel to push for peace

[David]

AP


JERUSALEM - 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.

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.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a boost to Palestinian arguments about Israeli settlements. In an interview published Wednesday, Rice said that Israeli construction in Palestinian-claimed east Jerusalem constitutes settlement activity and is opposed by the U.S.

Rice's comments, published in The Jerusalem Post daily, marked the U.S. administration's strongest criticism yet of Israeli policies in disputed east Jerusalem. The Palestinians are expected to put settlements at the top of their agenda when they meet Bush on Thursday.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been overshadowed by Israel's decision last month to build 300 more apartments in Har Homa, an Israeli neighborhood being built in east Jerusalem. Some 7,000 Israelis already live in Har Homa.

"Har Homa is a settlement the United States has opposed from the very beginning," Rice said.

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.

[David]

AP


JERUSALEM - An Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed two Palestinians and wounded four others Wednesday, Palestinian security officials and medics said, as President Bush arrived in the Mideast to try to build momentum for stalled peace talks.

The Israeli army said it had targeted militants in the area firing projectiles at the rocket-scarred southern Israeli city of Sderot.

Danny Dahan told Army Radio that a rocket tore through the ceiling of his Sderot home and landed on his son's bed.

"Rockets have been raining on this town for years and no one is doing anything," a crying Dahan told the radio, speaking from the hospital where he was treated for shock. He did not suffer any serious injuries.

Members of the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees told Hamas television that members of their group were firing salvos before the Israeli strike.

Israel is pursuing a peace agreement with the moderate Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas, who rules from the West Bank. At the same time, it is battling Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June after routing Abbas' forces. The U.S. and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist group.

At a November peace conference in Annapolis, Md., Israel and the Palestinians pledged to try to reach a final agreement before Bush leaves office.

"I come with high hopes," Bush said as he began his first presidential visit to Israel on Wednesday. "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."

In Gaza, thousands of Palestinian hard-liners staged small Bush protests, underscoring the deep political split with West Bank moderates who have welcomed his visit as an important gesture to the Palestinians.

Supporters of the Islamic militant Hamas chanted "Death to America," and burned U.S. and Israeli flags. A shadowy al-Qaida-inspired group appeared in public for the first time with rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and uttered vague threats against U.S. targets.

In Hamas-ruled Gaza, about 5,000 supporters of the Islamic militant group marched in the streets to protest the visit, burning effigies of Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"America has declared war on the people and imposed an unjust, murderous siege on our people," Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas leader, told the crowd, referring to U.S. support for Israel's virtual closure of Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory by force in June.

Even supporters of Abbas were critical of the U.S. leader. Some 200 supporters allied with Abbas' Fatah movement and other secular Palestinian factions urged Bush to abandon what they said was his pro-Israel bias.

"We call on President Bush in his visit to adopt an equal standard, and not to continue the biased policy in favor of the occupation government," a senior Fatah leader in Gaza, Zakariya al-Agha, told the marchers.

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.

Expectations of success are low, and no one is predicting breakthroughs during Bush's eight-day visit to Israel, the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Olmert and Abbas agreed in a meeting Tuesday to overcome disputes over Israeli construction in contested areas and ongoing violence and finally instruct their negotiators to begin tackling the core issues of a final peace agreement.

An Olmert ally said Wednesday that he believed Bush's visit would help the sides reach an agreement.

"I am happy that we are beginning to talk on the subjects that perhaps we should have begun to talk about earlier," Vice Premier Haim Ramon told Army Radio. "Both sides pay heed to his (Bush's) requests and his wishes and his visit will certainly accelerate the talks."

Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said that Bush's visit is important as a show of support for the negotiations. "We don't expect President Bush to come here and conduct the negotiations between us and the Israelis, and we don't expect President Bush to make the decisions required by us and the Israelis," he said.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview published Wednesday that the U.S. considers a disputed Israeli neighborhood in east Jerusalem to be a "settlement" and that the United States opposes the project.

Rice's comments, published in The Jerusalem Post daily, marked the U.S. administration's strongest criticism yet of Israeli policies in disputed east Jerusalem. The Palestinians are expected to put settlements at the top of their agenda when they meet Bush on Thursday.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been overshadowed by Israel's decision last month to build 300 more apartments in Har Homa, an Israeli neighborhood being built in east Jerusalem. Some 7,000 Israelis already live in Har Homa.

"Har Homa is a settlement the United States has opposed from the very beginning," Rice said.

In the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, about 20 masked supporters of an al-Qaida-inspired group, the so-called "Army of the Nation," displayed weapons in a first public appearance.

A spokesman for the group, who only gave his nom de guerre, Abu Hafs, said Bush was "not welcome" in the Palestinian territories. "We are coming, not to Bush in Tel Aviv, but God willing to Washington," he said.

He described members of the terror network al-Qaida as "brothers," with similar methods and ideology, but added that "there is no complete connection" to his group.

In recent months, several al-Qaida-inspired groups have emerged in Gaza, though possible links to the terror network are murky. An almost complete closure of Gaza since the Hamas takeover in June has driven Gazans deeper into poverty, creating fertile ground for militant groups.

On Wednesday, some Gazans recalled the visit of President Bill Clinton to Gaza in 1998. At the time, peace hopes ran high, and he was given a hero's welcome.

"We were full of joy and hope on that day (of Clinton's visit)," said Shawki Abdel Rahman, 59, a retired teacher, who watched Bush's arrival on a large-screen TV in a Gaza electronics store.

"Today, it's the opposite," he said. "There is no peace and no joy over this visit."