Middle East News
Bush: Outlines of Palestinian state can be defined by end of year
Jan 6, 2008, 20:29 GMT
Washington/Jerusalem- Even if Israeli and Palestinian leaders do not reach a peace deal by the end of 2008, there could be 'an agreement on what a Palestinian state will look like,' US President George W Bush told Israeli television.
'I'm optimistic that we can have the outlines of a state defined,' he told Channel 2 News in an interview broadcast Sunday night. 'I'm optimistic because I believe (Israeli) Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert and (Palestinian) President (Mahmoud) Abbas want to achieve this objective.'
Olmert and Abbas pledged at the Annapolis conference in November to try reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the end of this year.
But negotiating teams from both sides who have met to try to start the talkss have so far made no progress.
Bush, who arrives Wednesday for a three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas, said he thought the fact that he was 'a known quantity' to Olmert and Abbas could prove a spur to progress.
'I believe the leaders know me, and I know them. ... They're comfortable with me. ... Therefore, the question is, will they decide to make the effort necessary to get the deal done while I'm president. Maybe the next person won't agree with the two-state solution, maybe the next person will take a while to get moving,' he told interviewer Yonit Levi.
Bush said that Abbas, who is locked in political battle with the Islamic Hamas movement, which rejects a two-state solution to the conflict, had to be able to show gains from the diplomatic process with Israel.
'Abbas, who has agreed that Israel has a right to exist, must be able to say to his people, 'Be for me, support me, and this is what can happen. If you follow the way of the terrorists and killers, this will never happen,'' Bush said.
Addressing the subject of Iran's nuclear ambitions, Bush said that if he were Israeli, he would 'take the words of the Iranian president very seriously,' and said he did so as well.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, and Jerusalem regards Tehran's nuclear programme as a prime strategic threat.
'Iran was a threat, and Iran is a threat,' he said, and warned that if Tehran attacked Israel, 'We will defend our ally - no ands, ifs or buts.'
The Iranian issue is expected to figure prominently in Bush's talks with Israeli leaders during his upcoming visit.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0535182420080106
* 'An end to occupation and a peaceful democratic Palestinian state may seem distant, but America and our partners throughout the world stand ready to help, help you (the Palestinian people) make them possible as soon as possible.' -- White House speech, June 24, 2002
* The president said his job was 'to keep the thing moving, to keep the process moving,' adding: 'I used the expression 'ride herd.' I don't know if anybody understood it in the meeting today.' -- Briefing with reporters on Air Force One, June 4, 2003
* 'In order for there to be peace in the Middle East, we must see organizations such as Hamas dismantled.' -- White House news conference, June 25, 2003
* 'In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers (in the West Bank), it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final- status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949.' -- White House news conference, April 14, 2004
* 'It seems clear that an agreed, just, fair, and realistic framework for a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue as part of any final-status agreement will need to be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel.' -- letter to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, April 14, 2004
* 'The Palestinian people have voted in elections -- now the leaders of Hamas must recognize Israel, disarm, reject terrorism and work for a lasting peace.' -- State of the Union speech, January 31, 2006
* 'The outcome of the negotiations they launch here depends on the Israelis and Palestinians themselves. America will do everything in our power to support their quest for peace, but we cannot achieve it for them. The success of these efforts will require that all parties show patience and flexibility -- and meet their responsibilities.' -- Speech during the Annapolis, Maryland, conference, November 27, 2007.
* Asked how confident he is about getting an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of 2008, Bush said, 'I feel good about it.' -- Reuters interview, January 3, 2008 (Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Peter Cooney))
(Video of Bush on the Mideast)
www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=1448
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/06/AR2008010601574.ht ml
President Bush intends to use his first extended tour of the Middle East to rally support for international pressure against Iran, even as a recent U.S. intelligence report downplaying Tehran's nuclear ambitions has left Israeli and Arab leaders questioning Washington's resolve, according to senior U.S. officials, diplomats and regional experts.
'Part of the reason I'm going to the Middle East is to make it abundantly clear to nations in that part of the world that we view Iran as a threat, and that the [National Intelligence Estimate] in no way lessens that threat, but in fact clarifies the threat,' Bush said in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot released Friday.
(I hope that his trip is safe, and does not turn into another 'Bhutto moment' - al Qaeda is calling for violence. He already had the Annapolis conference, so this whole thing strikes me as nothing but a risky photo-op.)
online.wsj.com/article/SB119965963728370903.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
CAIRO, Egypt -- Al Qaeda's American spokesman urged fighters to meet President Bush with bombs when he visits the Middle East, according to a new video posted on the Internet Sunday.
U.S.-born Adam Gadahn also tore up his American passport as part of a symbolic protest in the nearly hour-long rhetoric-dominated tape -- al Qaeda's first message of the new year.
The release comes just three days before Mr. Bush is scheduled to arrive in Israel for a weeklong trip that will also bring him to the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, ...
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GlenJan 6th, 2008 - 20:35:56
Bush has lost touch with reality.
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