Bush embarks on Middle East visit
09/01/2008| IslamWeb
US President has arrived in Israel on a landmark visit to the region to help kick-start peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Ahead of his arrival Palestinian and Israeli leaders agreed to begin tackling core issues dividing them.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli PM Ehud Olmert vowed at a US summit last year to try to achieve a two-state solution by the end of 2008.
It is Bush's first visit to Israel and the West Bank since taking office.
In a meeting on Tuesday, Abbas and Olmert authorized their negotiators to begin discussing "final-status" issues of the borders of a future Palestinian state and the status of Jerusalem.
After holding talks with Olmert and Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Bush will go to the West Bank to meet Abbas.
He also plans to visit the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem before making stops in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Regional skepticism
Bush left Andrews Air Force base on Tuesday evening and arrived in Tel Aviv at 1115 (0915 GMT) on Wednesday.
He has said there will be three main themes to his visit.
He said Palestinians need to have a clearly defined vision of a state that can exist alongside Israel, and both Palestinians and Israelis need to fulfill their obligations to bring about this vision.
He also repeated that “the US was committed to security in the region.” But correspondents say many Israelis and Palestinians are skeptical about the chances for progress.
Officials say the leaders' talks in Jerusalem were intended to keep up the momentum achieved at the peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said it had been agreed that Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, also known as Abu Ala, would "start intensive meetings to immediately discuss all core issues of a final status agreement."
"The president [Abbas] urged that the year of 2008 be made the year to reach peace. The intention is to see to it that we give peace a chance," Erekat said.
But the BBC's Bethany Bell in Jerusalem says the rows over Israeli settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem and of militant rocket fire into Israeli territory have not gone away.
The Palestinians are angry that Israel wants to build more than 300 new apartments in a disputed part of Jerusalem.
Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said: "We are expecting that Bush will get Israel to freeze settlement activity."
For his part, Olmert has expressed particular concern at one rocket attack that reached as far as the Israeli town of Ashkelon, 15km (nine miles) from the border.
Tough questions
The Palestinians have also accused Israel of stepping up raids in the occupied territories ahead of Bush's visit.
A further issue is the removal of unauthorized Israeli outposts in the West Bank.
Beyond that even tougher questions remain - the Palestinians made refugees since Israel's creation in 1948 and the sovereignty of Jerusalem.
Abbas also faces the problem of Gaza - under the control of Hamas since his Fatah faction was thrown out last summer.
Militant rocket fire continues into Israel from Gaza, sparking Israeli military responses.
The two leaders have had regular meetings for several months but little post-Maryland progress has been reported.
Palestinians prepare anti-Bush banners on the eve of a landmark visit by US President to Israel and the Palestinian territories. [AFP]