PEACE & SECURITY | Creating a more stable world
07 January 2008
Bush Begins Journey To Bolster Peace, Security in Middle East
Trip aims to reinforce efforts for Palestinian state
Washington -- President Bush will arrive in Jerusalem January 9 to promote a Middle Eastern peace initiative begun at the November 2007 Annapolis Conference that seeks to bring the long-standing Arab-Israeli conflict to a peaceful resolution and create a democratic Palestinian state. But the trip also will serve to reassure allies and friends of the United States of its full commitment to regional security.
"I'm going to advance three things: one, the vision of two states, Palestinian-Israeli, living side by side in peace; two, to convince our friends and allies in the region that it is in their interest to support the peace process; and three, is to remind people that the United States is committed to helping secure the region, that we have an active presence in the Middle East and that presence is not going to wane," Bush said in recent interviews in advance of his trip.
"At this decisive moment in their history, the people of the Middle East can have confidence in the power of liberty to overcome tyranny and terror. And all who step forward in freedom's cause can count on a friend in the United States."
Bush plans to consult heavily with Middle Eastern leaders on the global campaign against terrorism and to pledge continued U.S. support to help the region confront this international problem that plagues the people of the region from Egypt to Morocco to Saudi Arabia. The January 8-16 trip will be Bush's first official visits to Israel and the West Bank, and will include visits to Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
But at its core, this extended trip by President Bush, coming in the final year of his presidency, is aimed at showing full support for a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the creation of a Palestinian state.
According to Bush, the future of a Palestinian state will depend on a vision of what it will look like and the terms of the road map to Middle East peace. "The whole purpose of our discussions at Annapolis has been to advance what a state would look like. The state is subject to the road map, the obligations of both sides before the state can come into being," he said during recent interviews preceding his trip.
The Israelis and Palestinians have committed to implementing the road map developed by the Quartet, which includes the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States. It is an extensive plan to resolve political, economic, security and humanitarian issues.
IRAN
In addition to the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, Bush also will discuss extensively with Middle Eastern leaders plans to diminish a potential threat posed by an Iran with a nuclear weapons capability. Bush said in recent interviews that "the policy of the United States is to solve this diplomatically."
Bush said his strategy is action-oriented and aimed at convincing the Iranian people that there is a better way forward. He said the economic deprivation and suffering they are experiencing and the resulting isolation are a direct result of their government's decisions about pursuing nuclear weapons development.
