BUSH SEEKS ARAB SUPPORT FOR PEACE

Bush seeks Arab support for peace deal By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent JAN 11,08

KUWAIT CITY - The United States dampened hopes Friday for swift agreement on a Mideast peace deal, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cautioned against expecting a blinding flash of Arab backing for cooperation with Israel, their historic enemy.
President Bush began the next chapter of his eight-day Mideast journey in Kuwait, the first of five Arab countries on an itinerary aimed at pressing them to support Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in any deal he strikes with Israel. Bush landed here after two days of talks in Israel and the Palestinian-governed West Bank. Traveling with the president, Rice said, There will be a period of time, undoubtedly, in which the two sides continue to be very far apart.But, she said, There is reason to be hopeful that they can make a major move to end the conflict.On Saturday, Bush will address U.S. forces at Camp Arifjan, the largest U.S. base in Kuwait and home to 9,000 American troops. He also will get a briefing on the war by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador David Crocker, who is pressing Iraq's government to make progress on long-delayed political reconciliation.

The pair are due to give Congress a new update on the war in March, one that will be closely watched for whether deeper cuts in the U.S. troop level in Iraq are possible.Bush will notify Congress on Monday of his intent to sell $20 billion in weapons, including precision-guided bombs, to Saudi Arabia, moving up the announcement to coincide with the president's arrival in Riyadh, a senior official told The Associated Press in Washington. The official announcement will kick off a 30-day review period during which Congress could try to block the sale, which has raised concern among some lawmakers.Arriving at the airport in Kuwait, the president got a ceremonial red-carpet welcome and was presented with a bouquet of flowers. But he saw nothing like the torrent of public adulation showered on his father in a visit 15 years ago.The tiny, oil-rich nation at the top of the Persian Gulf was invaded by Iraq's Saddam Hussein and liberated by a U.S.-led war ordered by Bush's father in 1991. Now, Kuwait is a major hub for U.S. troops and equipment deployed to Iraq.At a palace surrounded by palm trees, Bush met with the emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah. He told Bush he was delighted to have him in Kuwait. We are equally delighted to see you working on issues that are very important to all of us here, Sheik Sabah said. It was not clear what issues he meant.Like other Gulf Arab nations, Kuwait is nervous about tensions between the United States and Iran, and uneasy with the rise of Tehran. Kuwaitis also fear sectarian violence in Iraq could spill over their border.Kuwait was conspicuous by its absence from Annapolis, Md., last year where Bush held a high-profile meeting and coaxed Israelis and Palestinians to launch their first peace talks in seven years. They had their own reasons, Rice said of Kuwait without elaboration. Iraq was the only other invited guest to skip Annapolis.

Close Arab allies including Egypt and Saudi Arabia have urged Bush to get more directly involved in Mideast peacemaking, saying the Palestinian plight spawns other conflicts and poisons public opinion throughout the region. But those states and others, skeptical about Bush's commitment to the grinding peace process, have adopted a wait-and-see attitude since Annapolis. The president's visit is partly intended to nudge them off the fence, out of the belief that any deal is more possible to strike and sustain if Arab nations give Abbas support and cover.In both Jerusalem and the West Bank, Bush said Arab states have an obligation to help Israel and the Palestinians in the negotiations and to move the process forward. Bush also wants Arab states to give Abbas in his internal fight with Palestinian militants.Rice, traveling with the president on Air Force One, was asked whether Bush expected to get public statements of support from Arab leaders during this trip.Some of this will happen over time, the secretary said, standing in the aisle of the press cabin on Bush's plane. You know, there isn't going to be a blinding flash in any of this — not on this trip, not on the next trip. But this is a process that's moving forward.She said Arab states took a big step in coming to Annapolis. And it was the first time that the Saudis were there under their own flag. ... I feel a strong sense of support from the Arab countries.Rice said Bush's trip, and his planned return to Israel in May, puts pressure on both sides to make difficult decisions about peacemaking. The two sides will have to resolve huge differences over conflicting claims to Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state, and the fate of Palestinian refugees and millions of their descendants, as well as settle many smaller issues.Acknowledging the uncertainty of the negotiations, Rice said that it's probably not possible at this point to say where they're going to be in May, let alone where they're going to be next week.Before leaving Israel, Bush toured holy sites near the Sea of Galilee. Amazing experience to walk where Jesus lived and preached, the president said. White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush recalled passages in the early parts of the Book of Matthew about how Jesus calmed the Sea of Galilee. He was reminded of how prayer helps him and has helped him calm rough seas in his life and certainly in the White House, she said. Bush also paid an emotional visit to Israel's Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Diana Elias in Kuwait City contributed to this report.

Israel's right-wing Likud would win election: poll Fri Jan 11, 11:14 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's right-wing Likud party would soundly defeat Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima party if elections were held now, a poll by Israel's largest-selling daily said on Friday. The poll said that Olmert's party would win only 10 seats, far behind Likud with 28, the centre-left Labour party with 21, and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party with 11. Kadima at present has 29 seats and works in coalition with other parties.
Only eight percent of those surveyed said they would like to see Olmert as prime minister, with 33 percent favouring Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu and 17 percent favouring Labour's Ehud Barak, both former prime ministers.Another 37 percent of those surveyed preferred none of the above.

Olmert could be forced to resign as prime minister at the end of this month following the highly-anticipated release of a government report on failures during Israel's summer 2006 war against the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.More than three-quarters of those surveyed said Olmert should resign if the report places blame for the war on the political leadership, with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni strongly favored to succeed him as party leader.The poll was conducted on Thursday by Yediot Aharonot newspaper and the Dahaf-Mina Tzemach Institute among 500 people and had margin of error of 4.5 percent.

Bush traces footsteps of Jesus in Galilee Fri Jan 11, 10:11AM ET

CAPERNAUM, Israel (AFP) - US President George W. Bush traced the footsteps of Jesus on Friday as he wound up his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories with a tour of Biblical sites. Bush flew by helicopter from Jerusalem to the village of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where Christ delivered many of of his most famous teachings.Led by two Franciscan monks, Bush walked down to the lake shore and then visited the ruins of Capernaum, the village where Christ lived and taught after moving from nearby Nazareth, his home for the first 30 years of his life.

Capernaum is close to where Jesus is said to have miraculously fed 5,000 people with a few loaves and fish and where he anointed Peter -- the rock on which he would build his new church.The black-gowned monks then read Bush verses from the Bible and pointed towards the different holy sites in the area, just several kilometres (miles) north of the town of Tiberias.The three were then joined by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and went on to tour the ancient limestone ruins of the village of Capernaum and its excavacations of an ancient synagogue.Archeologists have uncovered a nearby fifth century church that was built over the ruins of what is believed to have been the home of the apostle Peter.An ultramodern octagonal Franciscan church now dominates the site.Bush, a devout Christian who once called Jesus Christ his favourite philosopher then headed to the Mount of the Beatitudes where Jesus is thought to have given his Sermon on the Mount in which he summarised the law of God.He was welcomed by several priests and nuns from the Chapel.

One of the beatitudes -- Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God -- has been invoked by past leaders attempting to resolve the decades-old Middle East conflict.
Bush predicted on Thursday that Israel and the Palestinians could sign a peace treaty by the end of his term in January 2009.

Palestinians little moved by Bush visit By Ilene R. Prusher and Joshua Mitnick Fri Jan 11, 3:00 AM ET

JERUSALEM; and Ramallah, West Bank - While President Bush stood in Ramallah Thursday speaking of plans for a way out of the conflict that defines daily life for millions of Palestinians, many of the people he hoped to convince that a peace deal with Israel is on the horizon simply dismissed his promises as kalam fadi – empty words. Not far from the Palestinian Authority offices where Mr. Bush met President Mahmoud Abbas, men sat huddled at a popular local cafe watching the two stand side by side for the first time on Palestinian soil.For us, the Bush visit failed even before he arrived. This visit worked in favor of Israeli interests, not for the Palestinians, says Khader Dibs, a middle-age father and manager of the local sanitation office who was among many who sat watching the speeches on new flat-screen television hanging on the wall, which turns the Abu Kheir Cafe in the Shuafat Refugee Camp into something of a town square. Men came to discuss the politics of the day and women stopped in to eavesdrop while they picked up a tub of the freshest hummus in town.

Palestinians here say they wish Bush would come to their neck of the woods, too, to see what it means to have their freedom of movement constantly curtailed.Our whole life is waiting at checkpoints. It's a humiliation, Mr. Dibs says. I didn't hear Bush talk about Israel's recent assassinations, incursions, and killings, either. The money spent on his visit would have been better spent on development.Dibs's views were echoed by many average Palestinians Thursday as Bush pledged to see the signing of a treaty leading to a Palestine state before his term ends. His visit was the first US presidential visit to the PA headquarters in the West Bank, but few were impressed with the intended symbolism.Shortly after a press conference between Bush and Mr. Abbas ended, an increasingly influential Islamist group arrived to share its take on the American push for a deal heard – a point of view that seemed to garner more interest.The activist from Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Party of Liberation), an international Islamic movement, began passing out professional-looking photocopies of a statement denouncing Bush and discouraging Palestinians from putting any hope in peace with Israel.Palestinians say Hizb ut-Tahrir, which argues that now is not the time to make jihad, or holy war, is beginning to gain in popularity against Hamas, the Islamist militants who won at polls here two years ago and recently wrested control of Abbas's Fatah faction in Gaza last summer.

Hizb ut-Tahrir's message has appeal, the men say, because too many here have long lost hope for the establishment of a Palestinian state: whether because they don't think Israel is serious about enabling that to happen, or because their own Palestinian brethren are not willing to compromise on their claims to what is now Israel proper.And, because Bush's name is synonymous with the post-9/11 war on terror, many Palestinians treat the US president as if he's the last person who would be able to make Palestinian independence a reality.The whole world lost confidence in Bush after the Iraq war. We worry that what he did in Iraq, he'll do in Iran, says Abdul-Fatah Julani, another cafe patron.A younger man chimes in: He makes peace out of killing Muslims.Just a few blocks away from Abbas's presidential compound, about 40 protesters chanted, Bush, Bush, Out, Out and Palestine, Freedom, Freedom, before being chased away by billy-club swinging policemen.

Demonstrators complained that a curfew imposed by police officers on the residents of central Ramallah to secure the city for Bush had prevented more demonstrators from joining the protest.We are against everything that is happening in the Muqata, says Fares Fares, referring to Abbas's compound. Bush won't stand with us. We don't like Bush because he destroyed the world – Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon. And look how he's imposed a closure on Gaza.Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian parliamentarian, tried to mediate between security forces and the demonstrators.The officer said we don't have a permit and that we shouldn't be in the streets, says Mr. Barghouti, who complained that the Palestinian casualties from Israeli attacks have doubled since the Annapolis, Md., peace conference that launched the peace initiative. We would be the first to be happy if this were a historic day, and if we achieve a Palestinian state. But the president of the United States of America must stop being biased toward Israel. We are not against the visit, but we are against the bias. We want [Bush] to become better, he says. Though in the minority, some Palestinians say they did, in fact, detect an evolution in the American position toward the peace process. This is not like the [President] Clinton visit, when he visited Gaza and was welcomed in the streets with his picture and American flags. The political weather is different now, says Hafez Barghouti, an editor of the daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jedidah. For the first time Bush spoke about the settlements as an obstacle to peace, and not just the illegal outposts. When the Americans talk about a Palestinian state and building the infrastructure for the Palestinian state, it's very important.Barghouti also said he was encouraged by Bush's trip from Jerusalem to Ramallah. Heavy fog forced the president to forgo a helicopter and drive by the Israeli military checkpoints that frustrate Palestinians on a daily basis. At least, he remarked, the weather may have helped the Palestinian people.

Last update - 00:00 11/01/2008 Bush implores government ministers to keep Olmert in power By Aluf Benn and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents, The Associated Press and Haaretz Service

U.S. President George W. Bush implored government ministers Thursday to stay behind Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, urging them to keep him in power. At a dinner held in his honor at the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem, Bush referred to the prime minister as a strong leader, adding that he holds him in high regard. Bush arrived in Israel for a three-day on Wednesday. The comments come amid concerns the coalition government could collapse should Olmert make far-reaching concessions to the Palestinians. Industry, Labor, and Trade Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) told Bush that he is not willing to compromise on Jerusalem. Yishai recited several psalms that emphasize the importance of the holy city. We cannot make peace with half of the Palestinian nation, which is all that is ruled by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Yishai added. We saw what happened when we left Gaza, Yishai said. We cannot accept a similar situation tomorrow in the West Bank. Hamas entered every place we left. We cannot compromise on Israel's security. The problem with Hamas is that it wants to destroy Israel.

Yishai gave the visiting American president a letter from Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef urging the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, as well as a letter from Pollard's wife Esther.
Yishai raised the issue of Pollard's release, sentenced to life imprisonment for selling military secrets to Israel, despite the fact that Olmert had explicitly asked the ministers to refrain from doing so. Bush: Palestinian state is solution to refugee issue Earlier Thursday, Bush laid out his vision for resolving some of the most contentious issues dividing Israelis and Palestinians, including the matter of Palestinian refugees, which he said would be resolved by the creation of a Palestinian state and compensation. I believe we need to look to the establishment of a Palestinian state and new international mechanisms, including compensation, to resolve the refugee issue, said Bush, in a statement summing up two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967, continued Bush. The agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people.These negotiations must ensure that Israel has secure, recognized, and defensible borders, he said. And they must ensure that the state of Palestine is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent.

The U.S. president reiterated a previous commitment he gave to then prime minister Ariel Sharon, saying Israel should not be expected to withdraw fully from territory captured in the Six-Day War. While territory is an issue for both parties to decide, I believe that any peace agreement between them will require mutually agreed adjustments to the armistice lines of 1949 to reflect current realities and to ensure that the Palestinian state is viable and contiguous, he said. He offered no specifics to resolve the conflicting claims to Jerusalem, but urged both sides to work toward a solution. I know Jerusalem is a tough issue, Bush said. Both sides have deeply felt political and religious concerns.
I fully understand that finding a solution to this issue will be one of the most difficult challenges on the road to peace, but that is the road we have chosen to walk, he added. The president said Israel and the Palestinians must both live up to their commitments under the long-dormant road map for peace. On the Israeli side that includes ending settlement expansion and removing unauthorized outposts, Bush said. On the Palestinian side that includes confronting terrorists and dismantling terrorist infrastructure ... no agreement and no Palestinian state will be born of terror.

Bush added that the sides should be able to reach an agreement by the end of 2008, as they agreed to do at the U.S.-hosted Middle East peace conference in Annapolis in November. A peace agreement should happen and can happen by the end of this year, said the American president. I know both leaders share this important goal and I am committed to helping both sides achieve it.Within minutes, Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley said the president would return to the Middle East at least once and maybe more over the next year. He wouldn't elaborate on possible destinations. Bush also called on Arab states to reach out to Israel, saying this was long overdue.Bush names U.S. General as new road map monitor Bush earlier named Lt. Gen. William Fraser to monitor the Israeli-Palestinian road map for peace, the White House said Thursday. Fraser, who has served as assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will help monitor road map commitments", White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. The U.S. president met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah earlier in the day, telling a press conference that he is confident that the Israelis and the Palestinians will reach a peace deal in 2008. In order for there to be lasting peace, President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert have to come together and make tough choices, Bush said at a joint press conference with Abbas. And I'm convinced they will. And I believe it's possible - not only possible, I believe it's going to happen - that there be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office [in January 2009]. That's what I believe.Bush spent much of Thursday in the West Bank, including a pilgrimage to Jesus' traditional birth grotto in biblical Bethlehem.

The president arrived at Abbas' headquarters on Thursday for his first-ever visit to the Palestinian territories. Abbas greeted Bush as he emerged from his car in the walled compound. The two men walked side by side along a red carpet, flanked by Palestinian security in olive-and-gold uniforms. He also accused terrorists of trying to ruin Palestinian hopes for statehood. Abbas knows that a handful of people want to dash the expectations of the Palestinian people, he said. I appreciate your [Abbas'] understanding that the way to achieve peace is to offer an alternative vision of liberty.
The president said that the Americans are very much engaged in peace negotiations. I am confident that with proper help, the state of Palestine will emerge... I am confident that the status quo is unacceptable, Mr. President, he said to Abbas. Responding to a question about West Bank settlements, Bush said that each side has got obligations under the road map... we have made our concerns about the expansion of settlements known.Under the U.S.-backed road map for peace, Israel must halt the expansion of settlements in the first phase, and Palestinian security services must counter terrorism. I believe Palestinian security forces are improving... my message to the Israelis is that they ought to help, not hinder, the modernization of the Palestinian security forces, Bush said.

Abbas: Palestinians seek a state with Jerusalem as its capital

Abbas said that he and Bush agreed on the points they raised during the meeting. During the press conference, he spelled out Palestinian demands, saying that his people seek a state with Jerusalem as its capital and an end to the refugee problem, in accordance with UN decisions.The Palestinian people, who are committed to peace, want to move freely in their country, with no roadblocks, [separation] fence or settlements... We want to see a different future, without thousands of prisoners in jail and innocent deaths. We want to stop the closure, Abbas continued. In response to a question on Israel Defense Forces checkpoints in the West Bank, designed to prevent terror attacks on Israelis targets but which hinder Palestinian freedom of movement, Bush said he identified with both sides' positions. He said that the Israelis don't want a state on their border on which attacks can be launched. I can understand that... The checkpoints create security for Israel and they create frustrations for Palestinians.On the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of the extremist Hamas movement since a bloody June takeover, Bush said that there is a competing vision taking place in Gaza.Hamas... has delivered nothing but misery. I'm convinced his [Abbas'] government will yield a hopeful future.Abbas echoed the sentiments, saying, Hamas has to retreat from its coup, then we can talk.Ahead of the visit, Palestinian police sealed off streets and erected checkpoints in large parts of the city, and residents in nearby buildings were told to stay away from windows and balconies. Palestinian security officials said U.S. snipers were being deployed in the area.