14 May 2008
Bush Brings Optimism to Middle East
U.S. celebrates Israel's founding, urges progress toward Palestinian state
Washington -- Sixty years to the day of Israel's founding, President Bush called on Israelis, who have built the region's most dynamic democracy, to renew their commitment to Middle East peace in that same spirit.
"Americans and Israelis can be proud of our past, and the best way to honor our founders is to continue the work they started," Bush said, arriving in Tel Aviv May 14 on the first day of a three-nation visit to the region.
Despite many challenges, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have made progress since the U.S.-brokered Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in late 2007, says National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. Efforts have focused on building confidence between the two sides, along with strengthening the economy and governing institutions of a future Palestinian state, he said.
"The president in some sense is the first leader to come forward and say, we're going to redeem that hardship by giving the Palestinian state a homeland for the Palestinian people in the same way that Israel 60 years ago became the homeland for the Jewish people," Hadley said.
Bush will discuss progress toward peace in private meetings with Israeli leaders and in an address to Israel's Knesset, as well as in Saudi Arabia and Egypt during his three-nation, five-day tour of the region. The president also will meet with other Arab leaders in one-on-one sessions at Egypt's Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh.
For six decades, the United States and Israel have been tied together by common values -- building strong democracies, welcoming immigrants from around the world and building vibrant economies that unlock their citizens' potential for innovation, the president said.
"I doubt people would have been able to see the modern Israel," says Bush, "which is one reason I bring so much optimism to the Middle East, because what happened here is possible everywhere."
But Israel's independence also came at a profound cost to the Palestinian people, Bush said in a May 13 interview with Egypt's Dream TV, making progress toward peace since the Annapolis Conference more essential than ever. In 2002, Bush -- in calling for a Palestinian state -- said he saw statehood as an essential component to a Middle East peace featuring "two states, living side by side in peace and security."
"There's been 60 years of struggling on both sides, and it's time that the struggle has got to end. Now is the time for the development of a Palestinian state," says Bush. "I fully recognize the agony and pain that have been lived by everybody in the region, and that here's one way forward. We will continue to work, and hopefully by the end of my presidency, we'll get the definition of a state."
Later in the day, an Israeli shopping center was struck in a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, which is dominated by peace process opponents from Hamas.
"Hamas' stated objective is the destruction of the state of Israel. And therefore the United States will stand strongly with Israel, as well as stand strongly with the Palestinians who don't share their [Hamas'] vision," says Bush.
