President Bush Goes to Middle East

AN optimistic US President George W Bush embarks on a nine-day six-nation tour of Middle East on January 8-16. President Bush believes an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal will be reached this year, according to excerpts of an interview published ahead of his visit to the region. Few see any prospect of securing an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians but remarkably, this is Bush's first visit to Israel or the occupied territories since becoming president seven years ago. It marks a belated decision to step up his personal involvement in the quest for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. While any success could be a credit to his ailing foreign policy struggling hard to come out its focus on Middle East and Afghanistan, a failure, however, would not cost him anything at all.

This is, therefore, his ambitious nine-day tour of the Middle East in a last desperate effort to salvage a legacy from two terms in office overshadowed by a catastrophic foreign policy that has earned him the distinction of being one of the worst presidents in the country's history. Apart from Israel and Palestine territories, Bush would also visit Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt where he said he would consult "our partners in the war against extremists". The Bush legacy will not be peace in the Middle East nor an end to conflict in Iraq, but it could be a political earthquake among voters so dismayed by the mess he has made of America's foreign policy and fearful of economic recession that they are deserting his party in droves.

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. "I am looking forward to sitting down with friends and allies to assure them of my commitment to the Middle Eastern peace and to work with them to make sure they are," said Bush.

The visit follows a pledge made at the Annapolis conference in November 2007 that he would personally assist negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. But his chances of securing an agreement before he leaves office in January 2009 are not helped by the split within the Palestinian leadership following elections which has left Gaza under the control of Hamas and the West Bank run by the Palestinian Authority, headed by pro-US President Mahmoud Abbas. US unwittingly calls Hams the terrorists harming every effort it makes to bring about a genuine lasting settlement of the Palestinians.

Bush will spend three days in Israel and travel to the West Bank to try to maintain the momentum initiated by the Annapolis conference in which more than 50 countries participated. Long criticized for a Middle East policy that has blindly backed Israel, many US observers believe the conference, though did not make any headway, was the most important US effort to try to make progress since President Bill Clinton left office. But the US sincerity would be further tested by the outcome of this trip by Bush to Middle East.

Reports say another key focus of Bush's trip will be Iran, long accused by the US administration of trying to develop nuclear weapons but which – according to a remarkable recent US intelligence report – halted any such programs in 2003. The USA is leading a campaign in the West against Iran's nuclear program which it fears could be a cover for ambitions to build atomic weapons. His talks in the region will also touch on the issue of Iran, he said, saying he would "spend time talking about the strategic implications of a US presence in a way that bolsters governments and at the same time helps serve as a bulwark against aggressive regimes such as Iran."

There is also speculation that Bush could make an unannounced visit to Iraq, where the 2003 US and UK invasion resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, more than 3,900 US troops and 174 British soldiers. Some observers believe the situation in Iraq has improved in recent months, partly as a result of the "surge" of US troops into the country's capital.

GENOCIDE AND DESTRUCTION

Israel has succeeded in divide the Palestinians struggling for independence from Israeli occupation and tactfully has been attacking both the regions systematically killing people and destroying property worth billions of US dollars. Eleven Palestinians, including several civilians, have been killed in Israeli operations Gaza in the last 24 hours. The latest Israeli incursion comes as US President George W Bush prepares to visit Israel to give a push to Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Israel launches frequent raids on Gaza. Israeli troops kill two Palestinians: Two Palestinian militants have been killed by Israeli troops launching an overnight raid in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials have said, reports BBC News. Israeli troops also made an incursion into Nablus in the West Bank on 03 January and there were clashes in the centre of the city. At least 19 people were injured, mostly young stone-throwers hit by rubber bullets. President Bush has not uttered a word about frequent Israeli air-strikes on Palestine. This act of USA has been considered by Tel Aviv as their support for genocide and destruction in Palestine by Israeli forces.

ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said that US President George W. Bush must speak out against Israeli settlements during his visit to the region next week, because they were making peace talks impossible. "When he arrives in the region President Bush must speak clearly about eliminating all obstacles which are hindering negotiations and settlement activity is the main obstacle," Abbas said. "It is impossible for negotiations to continue as long as settlements continue," he said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.

Apart from killing the Palestinians and destroying their properties worth billions of US dollars, Israel keeps on expanding the territories by constructing ever newer settlements. And USA never took serious notice of the illegal construction activities. Wildcat outposts are Israeli settlements established in the West Bank without government permission. The international community considers all Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land as illegal.

In an interview published last week ahead of his visit to the region, US President George Bush called on Israel to dismantle wildcat settlement outposts on occupied Palestinian land, The US president is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories in a bid to give a push to Middle East peace talks which were re-launched at an international conference in Annapolis in November. The issue of Israeli settlements is one of the most divisive issues of the decades-long Middle East conflict and has been the leading source of discord since the two sides revived peace talks after nearly a seven-year hiatus in late November.

Bush said in the interview with Israel's mass-selling Yediot Aharonot daily: "We expect them to honor their commitments," The Israeli government has said that they're going to get rid of unauthorized settlements, and that's what we expect. “That's what we've been told," he said. "But the unauthorized settlements, which are different from authorized settlements, is an issue we've been very clear on."

AN OBSERVATION

President Bush is embarking on his first trip to the region while president "to help boost the confidence of both parties to reach out for a vision." He said : "I'm also going to the Arab world.... to convince the Arab nations that Israel is a partner -- should be a partner in peace; that this vision is in the interests not only of Israel and the Palestinians, but it's in the interests of the Arab world."

Bush is set to spend three days in Israel and the Palestinian territories beginning on Wednesday in the first visit here by a sitting US president in nine years, following his predecessor Bill Clinton's trip in December 1998. The visit is part of a January 8-16 trip to the Middle East that aims to push along the peace talks with an eye on creating an independent Palestinian state before Bush leaves office in January 2009.

President Bush should have some serious reflections on his role in the Middle East Peace and the establishment of Palestine. That means that he should stop supporting the Israeli position on Palestine and make the necessary concession to the Arabs as per the Peace Plan envisaged in 2003. A firm posture from the USA would make Tel Aviv realize its folly and come to terms with reality and help with the establishment of Palestine. However, if Bush is making a friendly visit to Israel only to warn the Palestinians, then the net result of his visit also would easily be forecast right now.

(Dr.Abdul Ruff Colachal is an Analyst, Researcher & Columnist based in India)