Bush: Israel is US's strongest friend, ally in Mideast

Bush said:

"What happened here is possible everywhere"

 

As he was speaking, a Hamas rocket landed in Ashkelon, wounding several people. What happens here, can indeed happen everywhere.

 

Last update - 18:19 14/05/2008       
Bush in Jerusalem: Israel is our strongest friend, ally in Mideast
By Barak Ravid and Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies

Shortly after he arrived on Wednesday to participate in celebrations of Israel's 60th anniversary, U.S. President George W. Bush vowed to continue his country's support for Israel.
 
"The objective of the United States must be to support our strongest ally and friend in the Middle East ... and, at the same time, talk about a hopeful future," Bush said in Jerusalem. He also signalled his aim to make a new push for Israeli-Palestinian peace during his three-day trip.

 

Bush, speaking at a meeting with President Shimon Peres, said that 60 years of democracy in Israel is cause for optimism for democratic change throughout the Middle East.

 

"What happened here is possible everywhere," Bush said.

 

"I suspect if you looked back 60 years ago and tried to guess where Israel would be at that time, it would be hard to be able to project such a prosperous, hopeful land," Bush added. "No question, people would have said, 'We'd be surrounded by hostile forces.'"

 

But Bush said he doubted that people would have been able to envision a modern Israel.

 

The U.S. president has expressed some optimism that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement could be struck before his term ends in January 2009, while holding out little hope for a major breakthrough during this trip.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that reaching such a deal within the next eight months might be improbable but it's not impossible.

 

Peres, a Nobel peace laureate, backed Bush's optimism for a Mideast accord, saying Israelis want to work with Palestinians. "We are not their enemies," he said.

 

"We would like to see the Palestinians living together," he said. "They have suffered a great deal of their life. The separation is a tragedy for them and for the rest of us."

 

Peres chastised Hezbollah for aiming to destroy Lebanon and accused Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, of working to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.

 

Bush and Peres spoke after briefly strolling through the gardens behind the Israeli president's residence. They sat with their aides under an ivy-covered sandstone trellis amid a grove of trees and flowers.

 

Stepping somewhat on the message of the anniversary festivities, Bush joked that, "Israel really isn't so long in the tooth. As a person who's 61 years old, it doesn't seem that old," he said.

 

Olmert: Strategic alliance with U.S. one of Israel's pillars of security

 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier on Wednesday welcomed Bush upon his arrival in Israel, praising his visit as an extraordinary gesture of friendship.

 

In opening remarks, the prime minister declared: "Our strategic alliance with the U.S is one of Israel`s pillars of security."

 

Bush, for his part, addressed the assembled Israeli dignitaries at Ben Gurion international airport, stating: "Our two nations both faced great challenges when they were founded. And our two nations have both relied on the same principles to help us succeed."

 

"We built strong democracies to protect the freedoms given to us by an almighty God," he said at the red-carpet ceremony.

 

The U.S. president concluded: "We consider the Holy Land a very special place and we consider the Israeli people our close friends. Shalom."

 

As an army band played the American and Israeli national anthems, the U.S. president was greeted by Israel's political leadership, including Olmert, Peres and opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Peres, who also spoke at the ceremony, told Bush that, "We are grateful to you for gracing this occasion." He then lauded the U.S. president for his "steady dedication to the promotion of peace and security."

 

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, part of Bush's entourage, accompanied the U.S. leader as he walked across the airport runway, as did Bush's wife Laura.

 

Bush is to participate in the "Facing Tomorrow" presidential conference held in Jerusalem during his three-day visit, at which he will deliver a speech on Wednesday evening. He will also speak before the Knesset on Thursday, and will visit Saudi Arabia and Egypt later on in this trip.

 

Despite the festive nature of the visit, Bush was to find his host, Ehud Olmert, in deep trouble as a widening investigation into the prime minister's conduct has raised serious doubt over his political future.

 

Most probably in reference to the investigation, Olmert gave assurances to a senior U.S. official as Bush arrived in Israel. "Holding on, holding on, don't worry," Olmert told Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, at the airport. The remarks were picked up by broadcasters' microphones.

 

On the first day of the presidential conference, Olmert said on Tuesday that he and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have reached "understandings and points of agreement" on key issues in U.S-backed peace talks but he gave no details.

 

During Bush's visit, Olmert is expected to ask him to upgrade substantially the security relationship between Israel and the U.S., according to sources close to the prime minister.

 

Olmert's people are leaning, said the sources, toward presenting the visiting president with a list of weapon systems that Israel wants to purchase or otherwise gain access to.

 

On Monday, Bush said that the peace process is not dependent on a single individual, indirectly responding to fears that investigation into Olmert could derail Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

 

Al-Zahar: No welcome for Bush in the Holy Land

 

In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a leader of the Islamist group opposed to the U.S. peace efforts, said: "There is no welcome for Bush in the Holy Land. There is no welcome for hypocrite presidents who are defiling our land."

 

Bush, who flew on to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv by helicopter, will not visit the Palestinian territories but planned to meet Abbas in Egypt on Saturday. In Jerusalem, Mrs. Bush toured a government clinic that offers low-cost immunizations and other health care services to families with young children.

 

Ahead of the visit, three human rights groups sent a letter to Bush urging him to pressure Israel to lift the Gaza blockade. Israel imposed the blockade in an attempt to halt ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza at western Negev towns, but the groups said the move is collective punishment that is harming Palestinian civilians.

 

The president's final stop will be at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he will meet over two days with a handful of leaders: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Iraqi leaders. Bush also is scheduled to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, but that is in doubt now after clashes between the U.S.-backed government in Beirut and Hezbollah-led opposition.

 

While the president is in the Middle East this week, Bush administration officials plan to work during UN Security Council meetings to rally other countries to support Lebanon's government and to condemn Iran and Syria, which the White House believes are behind the recent clashes. "Obviously, we are also going to talk to various countries about additional pressure that can be put on Syria and Iran," Hadley said.