Iran Tops Bush Mideast Tour Agenda, Arabs Skeptical

Source: Al-Manar TV, 9-1-2008
US President George W. Bush arrived in the Ben Gurion airport in occupied Palestine on his first leg of his Middle East tour. "Israeli" President Shimon Peres welcomed his US counterpart and seized the moment to warn Iran not to "underestimate "Israel's" resolve to defend itself." Bush is seeking a foreign-policy triumph in his last year in office, and to rally support of Arab allies in the face of what he calls the Iranian "threat." Peres also said that the upcoming 12 months will be a moment of truth for "Middle East peace." Upon his arrival Bush said the alliance between Washington and Tel Aviv helps guarantee "Israel's" security as a Jewish State. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hailed Bush as "Israel's" strongest and most trusted ally.
Bush is vowing to advance Middle East talks revived just six weeks ago in Annapolis, with a view to create a Palestinian state before his term ends in January 2009. On the eve of his visit, "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas agreed to start negotiations on key issues -- borders, Jewish settlements, Jerusalem and refugees. Bush is due to meet Olmert and "Israeli" President Shimon Peres on Wednesday and head to Ramallah for talks with Abbas on Thursday. But there is widespread skepticism in the Arab world of Bush's chances of achieving any real breakthrough, amid criticism that Washington is too partial to the whims of its key ally, "Israel".
Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said that "the Palestinians feel we've been there, we've done that, there is sort of self interest involved in the visit. It is nothing more than a photo-opportunity and public relations by Bush during his last days in office."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is traveling with Bush, played down expectations, telling the BBC: "We shouldn't expect that there are going to be any great breakthroughs on this trip."
That's in Palestine, but what about Iran?
One tends to believe that Bush's visit is essentially aimed at rallying allies against Iran. Iranian vessels intercepted Sunday US warships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. "We viewed it as a provocative act. It is a dangerous situation and they should not have done it, pure and simple," Bush declared in his first public remarks on the weekend incident. Iran played down the incident as an "ordinary occurrence" in the strait.
"I am there to reassure and to look people in the eye and say, I
believe Iran is a threat; we have a strategy to deal with it; and we
want to work with you," Bush told Arabic television station
Al-Arabiya.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, "Israeli" leaders seem more interested in focusing on Iran's nuclear program than on the "Israeli"-Palestinian issue. Several senior "Israeli" officials, analysts, and military experts have been increasingly vocal about concerns that the recent National Intelligence Estimate report, which said Iran halted a secret nuclear arms program in 2003, takes the pressure off Iran and will spur them toward nuclear military capability; 'putting "Israeli" on the defensive and making it feel isolated in its assessment of the threat.' That could prompt "Israel" to act unilaterally against Iran, analysts say, a move that would certainly be resisted by Washington.
At the conclusion of the "Israeli" leg of his tour, Bush is slated to visit
key allies in the oil-rich Gulf -- Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia -- before ending his tour in Egypt on January 16.