Bush sees Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in 2008: report Thu Jan 3, 3:40 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - US President George W. Bush believes an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal will be reached this year, according to excerpts of an interview published on Thursday ahead of his visit to the region. Bush said the two sides must clinch a deal in 2008 in order to see the creation of a Palestinian state, Israel's top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper quoted him as saying in the interview which will be published in full on Friday.The US president is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories next week in a bid to give a push to Middle East peace talks which were relaunched at an international conference in Annapolis in November.
In the interview, Bush sought to ease Israeli fears that any future Palestinian state could threaten its security.I will not allow the creation of a terrorist state on Israel's border, he said in a quote translated into Hebrew.
Israel lashes out at Egypt over Gaza crossing Thu Jan 3, 6:03 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel accused Egypt on Thursday of undercutting Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects by letting about 2,200 Palestinian pilgrims return to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip without Israeli screening. The Palestinians had been stuck in Egypt for about a week after completing the Muslim haj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.Israel insisted they return to Gaza through its territory to allow them to be screened for smuggled cash or weapons.But Egypt allowed them to return directly through Rafah, a terminal on its border with Gaza.Israel views with great concern the unsupervised passage into the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing point of a group of Muslim pilgrims associated with Hamas, among them terrorist operatives, an Israeli official said.The group's passage via the Rafah crossing harms counterterrorism efforts, as well as attempts to bring about calm in the region and to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the official added.
Egypt said it allowed the pilgrims through Rafah for humanitarian reasons.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas launched statehood negotiations at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November with the goal of reaching agreement by the end of 2008.The pilgrims had been stranded in Egypt while Cairo tried to negotiate on their return with Israel and the Palestinians. Some smashed furniture and windows in protests at a shelter there.Israel has no presence at Rafah although a U.S.-brokered deal between it and the Palestinians says the crossing cannot be opened without Israeli consent. Egypt has mostly kept Rafah closed since Hamas routed Abbas's Fatah faction in Gaza in June.(Reporting by Adam Entous; Editing by Charles Dick)
Jordan king presses Israel PM on settlements by Ahmad Khatib JAN 03,08
AMMAN (AFP) - King Abdullah II of Jordan piled new pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to halt all settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory at talks in the Red Sea port of Aqaba on Thursday. Just days before a landmark visit to the region by US President George W. Bush, King Abdullah warned that a stalled peace process threatens the region's future and its security and stability, the palace said.He said Jordan opposes any settlement activity on Palestinian lands.He urged Israel to halt unilateral activities that may obstruct progress in the negotiations and called for adopting serious and practical policies that reflect its stated desire for peace.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has warned that peace talks with Israel, relaunched at a conference in the United States in late November, cannot continue unless the Jewish state halts all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem.
Since the conference in Annapolis outside Washington, Israel has issued two invitations for tenders for new construction, overshadowing the first two rounds of renewed peace talks and drawing rare criticism from its US ally.The king said Bush's visit to the region should encourage the Palestinians and Israel to reach agreement and implement their commitments under the internationally drafted roadmap peace blueprint which has made next to no progress since its launch in 2003.The Israeli prime minister expressed willingness to move forward in negotiations with the Palestinians with the aim of reaching a final settlement of the conflict, the palace said.Olmert's office said the prime minister had repeated Israel's commitment not to build new settlements and avoid new land appropriation in Judaea and Samaria (the West Bank excluding annexed east Jerusalem).He also updated (Abdullah) on the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and reiterated the urgent need for the Palestinians to crack down on terror infrastructure.
In its first phase, the roadmap peace plan requires Israel to freeze settlements and the Palestinians to improve security in the West Bank.Olmert's previously unannounced visit to Jordan was his third in less than 12 months. Last May, he met the king in Aqaba. In July, the two leaders met secretly in Jordan, shortly after the Islamist Hamas movement seized control of Gaza, reports said at the time.Jordan is one of only two Arab states with Egypt to have signed a peace treaty with Israel.
